"Ford’s other EVs, including the F-150 Lightning and electric Mustang Mach-E, were heavily adapted from existing gas-powered models. Those vehicles are built by cobbling together a hodgepodge of individual components that evolved independently of one another over time, like a house that’s been slowly renovated several times across decades. Retrofitting a design for a big, expensive EV battery comes with all kinds of compromises, including high costs. Ford realized early on that it was spending billions of dollars on wiring, among other things that its competitors such as Tesla didn’t need to deal with, because their electric cars are purpose-built from the ground up. No wonder, then, that Ford’s electric division has racked up $2 billion in losses in just the first half of this year alone."
Sounds to me like Ford ties motivation to solving problems instead of thinking structurally and starting with nothing. That is also why Model e has its issues here. It's not California talent, it's tall poppy syndrome from others who want to play in the sandbox without bringing any toys with them... skill wise. Same team structures, same compensation discrimination, same cr--s in the bucket, same workplace mobbing, same participation or career-lore-maxers etc. heck, they even brought back human trafficking! Must've been part of the existing structure
Source: https://removepaywalls.com/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/ford-china-electric-cars/683880/#google_vignette