That's at least how long it will take for things to go back to normal, if even then. So I'm wondering just how screwed not just us, but all automakers are in the near future.
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Ford offered an electric pickup truck starting in 1998. It was a battery-powered version of the compact Ranger, conceived to meet the California EV mandate of that era. It launched with a lead-acid battery and was later offered with a longer-range nickel metal hydride battery.
The EV push is a job k–ler anyone supporting it is just plain anti job and anti American.
I heard that OTA is not working reliably ...
A lot. Ford is in the last place among the automakers regarding manufacturing quality and debt. We can see our "supreme leaders" have no clue what to do to improve Ford, but we saw yesterday how Farley was kissing Bill's @ss ("The clarity of your voice and the vision you have for all of us and Ford"). What vision? OTAs? Tesla had them for 8 years and now Ford executives are "discovering" them. EVs? Ford will be the last automaker to bring an electric truck to market.
Not only that, because Ford is behind regarding the EV market, we are jumping in it head first. All the line up has to be EVs, and then we have Jimmy telling us that 1 in 10 vehicles sold in Europe is an EV. Well, first of all, European countries are smaller than USA and those countries have very stringent emission laws. Second of all, Europe is not Ford's biggest market and they are buying still 90% ICE vehicles. We are in such a hurry to show we are doing something "right", that I am afraid we are going to throw away billions of dollars for nothing in return (there is already a long list of that in the last years).
Automakers are a cyclical industry, and they had good years already before Covid-19, so they should be entering the downturn (or did last year). Less consumer confidence, less sales, less profits. So most of their stock is overvalued right now, including Tesla with their new idea of disposable cars. At the same time, we have a "green" push here in USA, that is going to cost jobs and money.
Now, it is not the end of the world, nor of car makers. People will be still needing cars and trucks, but we might see a lot of changes, many of them not good for the car makers' employees. I am guessing less factories, less people (downturn + EV push), less models worldwide, but with more customized parts, more technology, more integration.
Thanks
We'll be okay.