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> The next-gen “universal” EV platform is the product of Ford’s Silicon Valley-based skunkworks team helmed by Alan Clarke, executive director of advanced EV pr

> The next-gen “universal” EV platform is the product of Ford’s Silicon Valley-based skunkworks team helmed by Alan Clarke, executive director of advanced EV production and a 12-year veteran of Tesla. Whatever happens to Tesla the company, its impact on the world's vehicles is indelible.

torium 1y ago
On the other hand, history is littered with car companies that left an indelible impact in the car industry and then went bankrupt.
- FirmwareBurner 1y ago
  Yep. Just because you a have a good idea, doesn't mean you can turn it into a profitable business. The graveyard is full of companies that had good ideas. Cars are a low margin hardware business that's also a highly regulated one where mistakes are expensive. Tough to crack.
- philipallstar 1y ago
  It's extremely difficult to spend loads of money on R&D without letting your competitors get most of the value of it for nothing.
snowparrot 1y ago
Except VW and Stellantis do this since many years... Offer by Stellantis is 20k EUR (below 30k USD) and EU cars have higher security standards by regulation. https://www.motor1.com/news/691992/stellantis-low-cost-car-platform/ https://www.motor1.com/news/691992/stellantis-low-cost-car-p...
- plqbfbv 1y ago
  > Except VW and Stellantis do this since many years... VW is approaching comparable Tesla EV features now, after 10 years in denial and 7 playing catch-up (and while the hardware has improved greatly, the software has improved too but still can't compare to Tesla's). Stellantis is not really faring that well either. The article opened with "Ford is comparing this to its Model T moment". Then I read the second paragraph and I thought: "oh, Ford is having its Model T-esla moment". I still recall after >7y the Sandy Munro Tesla's teardown, who was amazed with how much more efficient the wiring, number of components etc were compared to regular industry (I believe this is an updated comparison slide of it: https://cdn.motor1.com/images/custom/comparing-tesla-ford-vws-electrical-architectures-source-munro-live.png https://cdn.motor1.com/images/custom/comparing-tesla-ford-vw... ). And the third paragraph delivered... It's an ex-Tesla guy driving this. I share the hate for the guy in charge, but I agree with the parent comment.

torium 1y ago

On the other hand, history is littered with car companies that left an indelible impact in the car industry and then went bankrupt.

FirmwareBurner 1y ago
Yep. Just because you a have a good idea, doesn't mean you can turn it into a profitable business. The graveyard is full of companies that had good ideas. Cars are a low margin hardware business that's also a highly regulated one where mistakes are expensive. Tough to crack.
philipallstar 1y ago
It's extremely difficult to spend loads of money on R&D without letting your competitors get most of the value of it for nothing.

snowparrot 1y ago

Except VW and Stellantis do this since many years... Offer by Stellantis is 20k EUR (below 30k USD) and EU cars have higher security standards by regulation. https://www.motor1.com/news/691992/stellantis-low-cost-car-platform/ https://www.motor1.com/news/691992/stellantis-low-cost-car-p...

plqbfbv 1y ago
> Except VW and Stellantis do this since many years... VW is approaching comparable Tesla EV features now, after 10 years in denial and 7 playing catch-up (and while the hardware has improved greatly, the software has improved too but still can't compare to Tesla's). Stellantis is not really faring that well either. The article opened with "Ford is comparing this to its Model T moment". Then I read the second paragraph and I thought: "oh, Ford is having its Model T-esla moment". I still recall after >7y the Sandy Munro Tesla's teardown, who was amazed with how much more efficient the wiring, number of components etc were compared to regular industry (I believe this is an updated comparison slide of it: https://cdn.motor1.com/images/custom/comparing-tesla-ford-vws-electrical-architectures-source-munro-live.png https://cdn.motor1.com/images/custom/comparing-tesla-ford-vw... ). And the third paragraph delivered... It's an ex-Tesla guy driving this. I share the hate for the guy in charge, but I agree with the parent comment.