If necessity is the mother of invention, uncertainty is the father… if that father was Saturn. Everything is unclear right now. I have no idea what’s going to happen next and, I presume, neither do most automakers. It’s the season for hedging and automakers are going to have to hedge.
Let’s start The Morning Dump with the news of the day, which is that the next-generation F-150, called P736 internally, has been pushed by a year. It’s not clear exactly why the 14th-generation truck is getting another year, and it comes at a time when Ford is saying it’s going to cut some middle-management bonuses in an effort to lower costs.
Could Ford’s decision have something to do with the possible tariffs? Maybe! The President said we can start expecting 25% tariffs, maybe, on cars coming into the United States. That’s basically threatening to put the Chicken Tax on everything.
In exchange for reading about something political, I’ve got another update on the Nissan-Honda drama, which is a story that just keeps on giving.
The 14th Gen Ford F-150 Gets One More Year, At Least
The Ford F-150 is the ultimate golden goose. Ford has gotten so good at building trucks and winning fans that each generation brings customers back with even bigger checks. Trucks are, generally, extremely profitable vehicles and Ford could use the profits right now.
Part of the appeal is that every few years Ford comes out with a new generation of F-150 that offers more style, more features, and more capabilities. According to reporting from Crain’s Detroit, Ford has been emailing suppliers and telling them that the current generation will likely stick around for at least one more year.
Ford was expected to roll out the 15th generation of its traditional gasoline/hybrid pickup in 2027. Production for the program, code-named P736, has been pushed out by at least a year to mid-2028 at Dearborn Truck and Kansas City Assembly, three auto supplier executives from three companies told Crain’s Detroit Business, an affiliate of Automotive News, under condition of anonymity.
In tandem with that decision, the automaker told suppliers that production of the current P702 version, introduced in 2021 and refreshed in 2024, will be extended by a year into 2028.
There are many reasons why this could be happening, including the usual boring internal complications having to do with product design. Ford is facing “headwinds” when it comes to profits, so it’s possible that Ford is trying to save money by squeezing more net income out of the truck by building it for another year.
Crain’s had another good theory:
The F-150 has historically been overhauled every five to six years, with mid-cycle enhancements between new models. A 2028 launch of the 15th generation would mean more than seven years on the same model.
The delay would allow Ford to put off some of the massive capital costs required for a new model launch as it works toward a 2027 launch on the EV side. It also allows the automaker to squeeze out another year from suppliers under contracts that were signed years ago and don’t reflect the new economic realities of inflation and tariffs.
Ford is definitely trying to save money wherever it can, with Bloomberg reporting that the company is getting rid of some stock grants for mid-level managers:
Ford has told employees roughly half of a group of 3,300 middle managers won’t get stock award bonuses, which are typically granted in March and vest over three years. Ford has about 76,000 global salaried employees. Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley is pushing his salaried ranks to improve performance as Ford forecasts a year when earnings before interest and taxes will fall by $2 billion or more.
“We are focused on driving a high-performance culture that recognizes and rewards employees for their business contributions,” the automaker said in a statement Tuesday.
On the other hand, a new truck is usually an excuse to charge higher prices, so delaying the new F-150 does come with costs. Maybe something else is going on? In fact, I suspect we’ll see a lot more of this happening in the coming years, with some of the biggest and most beloved models not getting upgraded on a typical schedule. Why?
President Trump Proposes Putting A Chicken Tax On Everything
Last week we covered the topic of Comparative Advantage, which seems timely since President Trump has threatened/promised a 25% tariffs on all imported cars. This is an interesting number because it’s also the same percentage as LBJ’s famous “Chicken Tax” on imported trucks.
Did the Chicken Tax work? Sort of! The tariffs essentially ended the import of small trucks into the United States, and foreign automakers eventually started building vehicles here. From that perspective, the main American automakers and their employees have benefited. That delayed F-150, which is built in the United States, exists in some small part due to the Chicken Tax.
On the other hand, the market forces against small trucks have meant that we’ve slowly seen small trucks disappear. The Maverick is, in this case, an exception, but it’s built in Mexico.
What happens if all imports are hit with a 25% tax instead of the usual 2.5%? We might find out.
Trump said that while a full announcement would come April 2, the import duties would likely start at 25%. He said he would charge the same amount for pharmaceuticals and semiconductors and gradually increase the tariffs over time.
“It will be 25% and higher, and it will go very substantially higher over a course of a year,” Trump said during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. “But we want to give them time to come in because, as you know, when they come into the United States, and they have their plant or factory here, there is no tariff, so we want to give them a little bit of a chance.”
If you really want to know why I think we’ll see more delays like the F-15o it’s because of rather vague statements like the one above. How do you plan for that?
Local import duties are just one of many factors that go into building a car. None of us exist in a vacuum and higher tariffs, often, lead to all sorts of harder-to-control outcomes. For instance, this might end up with America having a stronger dollar. That’s not really good or bad, but it can be beneficial for consumers in the United States if we can buy German cars that are suddenly cheaper to produce in Slovakia because of a weaker Euro. That advantage disappears if there’s a big tariff, though.
In fact, if you’re a European automaker, you may not give up on America, but I wouldn’t invest in new product until I was sure that I could still profitably sell cars there.
A lot of this might be bluster. The EU currently charges a 10% tariff on our imports, whereas we only charge them 2.5%, though, again, we do put a 25% tariff on the most profitable trucks. Could President Trump lower the Chicken Tax in exchange for lower tariffs? Maybe.
It probably doesn’t matter. Neither Japan nor Europe are going to buy a lot of American cars because we don’t build a lot of cars that consumers in those countries want. It’s possible that the long-term outcome of this is that European and Japanese (and South Korean) automakers build more plants here, but it’ll only happen after a long period of turmoil.
Honda Reportedly Wanted Nissan To Kill Its e-Power Hybrid System
Nissan is the biggest automaker in the United States with absolutely no hybrids, which is one reason why the company is struggling in this market. This is not just a marketing problem. It’s also a technological one. Nissan developed its hybrid system for Japan and Europe, where people spend a lot of time in stop-and-go city traffic.
Remember what I said about Japanese and European consumers not necessarily wanting American cars? Not only are the roads too damn small, but these countries also have a driving mix that often involves a lot less cruising on the highway at 75 mph.
That’s one reason why Honda, as it was putting other big demands on Nissan, told the company to stop investing in its hybrid system, at least according to reporting from Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, via Automotive News:
While Nissan had an early lead over its Japanese competitors — Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda — in electric vehicles, it has lagged on hybrids.
“It is obvious that we are a little better than Nissan when it comes to HVs,” a senior Honda official told Yomiuri Shimbun.
A person familiar with the matter told Automotive News that Nissan R&D execs could not stomach Honda’s demand to scrap a home-grown technology into which Nissan had sunk more than $2 billion.
“It was a clash of egos,” the person said.
Nissan is bringing a new e-Power Rogue to the United States, maybe, in a couple of years. That vehicle will feature a revised e-Power system that’s more tuned for American tastes.
A Quick Story About UAW Retiree Benefits
There’s a big feature in the Detroit Free Press about Clara Corso, the widow of an autoworker who managed to have a few final days on this planet in a comfortable and humane way that didn’t bankrupt her surviving relatives.
In November of last year, Clara entered Garden City Hospital with walking pneumonia, where she was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. After a week, she returned home. Three days later she suffered a stroke and returned to the hospital. For weeks, she remained in the hospital until she ultimately was discharged to Angela Hospice.
At no point did we consider how my aunt would pay for any of it. Still, the coverage at hospice care came as a surprise. Fifth-level hospice care benefits like my aunt’s — which offer fully covered inpatient care at hospice facilities — are fading away alongside the dwindling policy holders.
Tracy Muzzarelli, who works in finance at Angela Hospice facility and has over 20 years of medical billing experience, refers to it as a unicorn policy for good reason. In most cases, there’s no deductible or copay with the benefit.
“The enormity of the cost of hospice care is quite significant, and the fifth-level benefit in particular is a gem,” she said. “It’s a growing expense for a need that is more in demand than ever before. As a society, we did not prepare for the medical advancements that we’ve had.”
The whole story is fascinating and I suggest reading it.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
In my mind, there is no greater living American than Dolly Parton. That’s why this duet version of Sabrina Carpenter’s humorous “Please, Please, Please” with Dolly has to be the song of the day. Dolly is the best.
The Big Question
What new generation of vehicle are you most looking forward to?
The current era of large scale expansive capital investment in a mature market of about 15-17 million vehicles annually seems folly in the era of proposed very dramatic policy changes from government. The return on investment for most major investments is beyond the scope of an Administration. Business hates uncertain regulatory environments.
I expect no major capital investments aside the continued focus on existing popular segments (SUVs/trucks) and an electric hedge against the political environment changing again.
Likely, the effect will only serve to encourage disinvestment in Canada, Mexico, and the EU by US-based automakers. I do not foresee a bright future for Ford in the EU (GM is gone already), nor do I see a huge influx of plant-building in the US due to this.
Mostly, Ford, GM, and the North American operations of Stellantis will concentrate their efforts on serving the US market by making more use of existing plants in the US. Given their atrocious decline in market share and retrenchment over the past twenty-five years, the ‘domestic’ automakers will likely end up as a weird species of animal that can only exist within a certain sheltered environment from their previous ‘global colossus’ status.
The German and Japanese automakers will likely cull the models that do not sell very well in the US as they generally produce low-volume models in their homelands. They will likely just add the premium to their popular luxury models to keep their margins the same. Expect more expensive Lexuses and MBs/BMWs/Audis in the near future.
The mass-market Japanese options will likely shift production to their duplicate plants in the US from Canada and Mexico but will likely not expand their operations beyond maximum output of the plants (see: uncertain environment). This will keep the supply to dealers low, but prices high.
Ironically, the largest importer of US built-cars (Canada) will get its nuts kicked in. The relative trade difference of vehicles exported from Canada and vehicles imported from the United States is small relative to Japan or Germany. Plenty of F-150s ply Canadian roads. Mostly, I wonder if GM/Ford/Stellantis even have a future in assembling cars there. I’d bet against it.
Toyota/Honda may keep nominal operations in Canada just as a hedge, and because they produce models in Canada that sell well to Canadians.
Not looking forward to much these days, sadly.
For what its worth, Ford just did a huge investment into the Oakville plant in Canada to build Super Duties starting in 2026. Pending on how the Tariffs hit, some F150 Production could end up there since the cabs are almost entirely the same from a sheet metal and fabrication standpoint.
Looking forward to an optimized efficient EREV vehicle- something smallish like an e-rev Maverick – with 100+ in battery range and an ICE + generator for road trips / towing. Not the monster EREV from Ram.
The upcoming eREV Scouts are interesting and tick most boxes but I’ll give them a year or two to get the bugs out. Also I think the design would be better with solid-state batteries + a smaller rotary range extender. It makes more sense than the 4 banger approach. Maybe a Mazda+Toyota erev (ICONIC? RX VISION) if it ever becomes real. What about the liquid piston & Omega-ones? I’d love to see them in production as EREV ICE generators.
Currently Ihave a 25 AWD Hybrid maverick on the way and will compliment it with an EV for around-town use for now, but I’d rather have one general purpose vehicle that’s optimized to do it all… city/road trips/towing/hauling/AWD for bad weather… only thing missing is a sports car row-your-own drop top so I’ll also be keeping my Miata in the stable for when I get the urge to go topless.
When I was younger, I used to really look forward to new gens of vehicles, even those that I had no interest in owning. I just found “new” stuff exciting and interesting.
Now, I just don’t care. I can’t think of any vehicle that I’m excited about.
The new Rivians and the Scout will be cool to see around, but I’m not a buyer for those. I like trucks, but the next gen of pickups will just be even more expensive.
I think the last vehicle I was truly excited about was the Bronco. I had high hopes when I heard a new 4Runner was FINALLY coming out, but the Tundra and Tacoma reveals dashed any expectation that I had that it would be good.
Now I guess I’m too preoccupied with how expensive it is just to exist, continuing to not be homeless is my main focus right now. The thought of spending tens of thousands on a car just seems ludicrous at this time.
This. My interest grows less and less. While objectively many things are improving greatly it’s at a much higher cost than I car to spend and I can’t get over the pragmatic issue of spending that much on a depreciating asset for the “feels”.
Pretty much. Optimism is dead and I’m terrified at the idea that an almost certain downturn in the auto industry might take my job out with it.
Same here. My wife (who works from home and can be literally anywhere) and I are seriously considering relocating to a much less expensive locale and temporarily living off her wages whilst I look for a job outside the car business. My income cratered last year and the outlook for the future seems like same shit, different year. Hard to be optimistic, but I’m trying.
Sorry to hear that. Moving to a low-cost area sounds like a good plan, I’m thinking of that myself. My problem is that I work in MFG, and need to move somewhere that has jobs.
Well, nothing lasts forever, right? All the volatility in the economy has made me do some serious existential soul-searching about the meaning of why we’re here. Surely it’s not just to buy things and pay bills, even though that’s how we feel at the moment. My wife is Puerto Rican and would love to return to the island (land and houses are generally dirt cheap there). This gringo would be happy to follow, regardless of my inability to speak Spanish. At least I’d have an interpreter!
Oooh, PR sounds like a nice change.
I hear you on the “why are we here” question. My dad passed last year just after he was able to retire, and two of my uncles didn’t even make it to retirement. The daily grind has been getting so soul crushing lately, part of me wants to rage quit and live out of my 4Runner, traveling the country for a few months. I have friends on the west coast, I’d love to head out that way for an extended time to enjoy my life while I still can.
Sorry to hear about your Dad. I had a coworker who died whilst walking his dog before coming to work a couple days after Christmas a few years ago.
I will not let that happen to me.
Thank you.
I’m sorry, I hope things work out okay for you.
Yep, same with technology, it used to be “let’s see what they’ve improved!” but now it’s nothing but “Let’s try to figure out what they quietly ruined or taken now”
It’s been years since Windows saw a new feature I thought was neat or helpful.
If you’re looking for a 6th gen 4Runner, the base trim loses hood insulation, full-size spare, frame bump stops, auto dimming mirror, power seats, etc. etc.
That’s on top of what the 5th gen lost which was standard/more available on the 4th gen. (climate control, locking center limited slip standard on 4WD…)
Gue$$ where all those features are now? ????
Just FYI – you can now get Dolly Parton license plates in Ohio.
https://www.ohioimaginationlibrary.org/news/drive-with-dolly
Finally! Something good about Ohio.
That’s our state motto!
That’s good news and I hope they do something like that here. I also hope that they don’t provide revised issues of Cinderella – with Dogs! and Full Moon Pups (both on the list of books to be distributed) in which the titular canines are eaten by refugees.
I love this so much.
As I remember, there were talks between the US and EU about 0% tariffs, but those got ended around 2017. And as much as I know, there are 0% tariffs on cars imported to the EU from Mexico, and there was something about nixing tariffs on cars from South Korea, Japan and South America too So I wonder what would be the EU’s reaction, if the US proposed reciprocal 0% tariffs?
About Honda and Nissan hybrids: tests I’ve seen show them both being not really good at higher speeds (BAB130 test cycle), both being beaten by Toyota.
(AWD X-Trail (9.6l/100km – 24.5mpg), RAV4 PHEV (8.3l/100km – 28.34mpg with an empty battery) and CR-V(9.9l/100km – 23.76mpg),
FWD ZR-V (8,5l/100km – 27.67mpg), Corolla Cross (7.5l/100km – 21.36mpg) and Qashqai (8,4l/100km – 28mpg))
Oddly enough I think I’m most looking forward to learning more about the second generation Honda Passport that’s just hitting dealerships now. It’s a real looker, it has an ace in its hand with the naturally aspirated V6, it comes in actual colors, as long as you don’t go buck wild with the options it’s reasonably priced, and while it has meh ground clearance and isn’t BOF Honda did take its capability pretty seriously.
I think it could be a real Goldilocks in that class of vehicle. It’s going to be a lot softer around the edges than a Bronco or Wrangler and hardcore Toyota fans are still screaming into the void about how mad they are that the engines aren’t naturally aspirated anymore. Seriously, go on YouTube right now and a big chunk of any Toyota truck content is videos about how the new TNGA-F vehicles are an abomination in the eyes of god and that there’s no reason to buy a Toyota anymore.
…but go across the street to the Honda dealership and they’ve got a competitor with a big, naturally aspirated, Armageddon proof, gas guzzling V6. For these reasons I think the Passport has a real chance to make some noise. I’ll be interested to read the initial batch of reviews because there’s a good chance my next car will come from this class.
With that in mind, keep piling on Toyota everyone! Land Cruiser 1958s are already listed for $4,000 off MSRP near me and a midsized body on frame SUV with rugged looks, actual capability, and an interior that will stand up to kids that’s capable of getting low to mid 20s city mileage is MIGHTY APPEALING to me.
There were many reasons my wife and I bought a new Honda Pilot last summer, and a regular ol’ v6 and automatic transmission were a couple that carried alot of weight in the decision.
I think that the hyperfixation on naturally aspirated engines and outright disdain for turbocharged ones is a little overblown, particularly when it comes to truck and SUV buyers. But I also see the appeal of the simplicity, especially if fuel economy isn’t really a concern.
If you’re the kind of person like me who keeps vehicles for the long haul, simplicity and durability really matters. Our “new” car is 10 years old. Followed by a 19 year old truck and another 25 year old car. I’m not interested replacing turbo chargers on my decade old vehicle.
I think they’re reliable enough for commuter and maybe light work vehicles.
We’ve been moving away from Ecoboost engines and getting Chevy 5.3’s in our work trucks. Our sales guys tow much of the time and we have yet to have an Ecoboost hit 100k miles before catastrophic failure. Out of the past 25 Ecoboosts we’ve bought 13 have already blown up, one as low as 60k miles.
We’re seeing that at the GMC dealership I work at as well. A lot of contractors and other professionals who need trucks are getting our 5.3 and getting out of EcoBoosts. That 5.3 is so under-stressed
I’d like that engine to be in my next truck. Specs on paper make it seem kinda weak compared to the competition but in real world it tows great
I don’t. Just recently purchased an Acura with the 3.7L and manual transmission and it’s really refreshing to drive, with real torque available immediately at tip in, not a second or so later.
I think the average driver has had what good drivability was like erased from their memory by 10+ years of turbocharged downsized engines and automatics with too many gears. It’s why they now talk about BEVs having “instant torque” like it’s something revolutionary.
As for my J37… Motor oil is cheap.
I’m currently eyeing the EV used market for when things tank hard, and I can pick up another EV for pennies on the dollar. My eye is on: BZ4X (yeah, at $149/mo lease, it’s hard to ignore, an I can care less about the range and charge rates with level 2 at home), Porsche Tacan (LOL, I wish), or maybe a Lyric (again, price!), and lastly another Bolt.
Questions:
Been looking for a fire sale lease like that and will keep looking. Just tried to find a VW with the 149/999 lease. The ID.4s are no where to be found around here. If something like your deals pops up again I might bite the bullet and lease an EV for a few years while waiting for next-gen solid state batteries (and EREVs) to come to market.
I’m thinking we’re about 3=6 months away from an economic collapse here in the US. If you have the savings you may be able to scoff some great deals. I think the housing / real estate market is going to tank too along with the auto market and commercial real estate.
The US is a consumer-based economy, and although the media is crap, eventually the majority of the terminally ill-informed will figure out just how bad things are now, and that inflation is about to go through the roof and no one’s job is secure. Once consumers loose confidence and stop buying everything from small purchases to major products we’ll all spiral down.
Totes. I’m on the fence on if I sell my house (and pocket $200k or more), then just rent. The bubble is about to burst, for sure. I want that cash in-hand so I have options. I have no problems renting for a few years while things settle down.
States will each keep doing whatever they’ve already been doing. Federal rebates are absolutely going away.
I suspect US federal rebates will go away given the crazy cuts going on. Oddly this might make for amazing deals on EVs based on my experience in Canada.
The Canadian federal government rebates suddenly stopped in January with no warning. We were looking at the Ioniq 5. Literally two days after our first test drive the $5000 cash rebate was gone. We were disappointed as the rebate made the numbers work. So we decided no new car.
That is until the dealer offered $8500 off the MSRP no negotiation required. $3500 from the dealer/$5000 from Hyundai Canada. Financing dropped from 4% to 1.49%. No plate fees, no other fees at all… just the standard delivery fee listed on Hyundai Canada’s website.
The dealer also confirmed the car we could buy was made in South Korea and NOT in the USA. We would not have purchased if it was one made in the USA. (We are avoiding buying made in the USA as long as Trump keeps threatening Canada. Truth be told this may be longer term as I no longer view the USA as an ally. The way Canada is being treated by the USA is disgusting.).
Given the price we went ahead with the purchase. Amazingly we ended up paying a lot less for the Ioniq 5 after the rebates actually stopped.
Thanks for not buying American. Not snark. The more pressure from outside the country, the quicker we may get out of this living hell. I’m all for the 100% tax on Tesla products too. After the crash and recovery we’ll hopefully move back to normal, mutually beneficial international relationships.
I 2nd this. Hit em where it hurts. It’s the same philosophy the administration is using.
Wow, that’s insane. I’m sorry this is happening.
But, that deal you got sure sounds great. 1.49% is awesome. I’d sign up for this.
“President Trump Proposes Putting A Chicken Tax On Everything”
That’s gonna totally Balkanize the US economy if it gets implemented.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkanization
And what are the effects of Balkanization? Well when it was done in Africa:
“ Between 1960 and 1990, balkanization led to disastrous results. The GDP of these regions were one tenth of OECD countries.[11] Balkanization also resulted in what van de Valle called “typically fairly overvalued exchanged rates” in Africa. Balkanization contributed to what Bates, Coatsworth & Williamson claimed to be a lost decade in Africa.”
“What new generation of vehicle are you most looking forward to?”
Rivian R3
I may not necessarily be opposed to the use of tariffs to spur more US production of cars, but they are incredibly hamfisted as Trump is proposing them. It almost seems like he thinks, next week we will impose 25% tariffs on cars made in Mexico, the week after that Ford will start making the Maverick in Arkansas.
That’s exactly the way he’s thinking since he’s generously giving them until April 2:
“But we want to give them time to come in because, as you know, when they come into the United States, and they have their plant or factory here, there is no tariff, so we want to give them a little bit of a chance.”
Just watch all those auto plants pop up all over the country over the next two months. It’ll be amazing! ‘Uge even!
Although I hear a couple of the US Nissan plants might have a bit of extra capacity available soon.
Tooling and shifting supply chains for a different car will still take a long time, though.
This is so, so, so, so, SO stupid.
It absolutely looks ham fisted like everything else that’s happening but wouldn’t be suprised if it’s mainly a threat and as long as manufacturer A announces plans for a plant, suddenly they’re off the tariff list.
Trump obviously loves his quid pro quo (cough, Mayor Adams, cough).
“Move Fast and Break Stuff” for morons.
She is the best. And it snuck up on me. I had no idea she was so intensely, absolutely, unquestionably such an amazing individual. The best for sure.
I’m not really excited for new cars at all because I can only see multi-thousand-dollar taillights and headlights and multi-month wait lists for other parts. I’m also very much not excited for the full-court press of not being able to repair my own vehicles because now they’re “software-defined.”
As much shit as auto journalists gave Nissan for the Frontier lasting for 15 years, at least I can get parts for the platform at a reasonable price. I can’t say the same for a lot of modern vehicles.
At this point, I like that the Frontier is pretty old-school. I’m so tired of tech for tech’s sake that just makes everything harder to use.
I test drove a stripped out base model F-250 last weekend. I loved how simple it was. What I absolutely hated was how fuggin’ tall it was! It was ridiculous! I could barely get up into the thing.
The retaliatory tariffs on American cars won’t be the ones that matter. It will be the ones on agricultural products. Wait until the price farmers can get enough for their corn and beans.
The MAGA farmers are just now learning that SNAP, WIC, and USAID were really subsidies for them.
I’m sure that’s Biden’s fault, though.
Yeah, the ones who voted for this are really happy with where we are at right now. I wonder if they will choose the same vote next time? I mean, we all have two feet to shoot off, right?
Yeah, we really have to subsidize our gummy worm and Mtn Dew farmers.
Anyone want to bet that the Executives are still getting their bonuses?
My fingers were hovering over the keys to type this. “Mid-level management” is the lowest tier of employee that would receive equity compensation in the first place, and they are the only group losing it. Lovely.
I worked at a company where you had to accrue seniority to be able to get on the bonus program. Each time I was a year away from being eligible, they changed the requirements to remove folks from it to “save money”. Once I finally got on it, they would continuously change the metrics so that I never got a bonus for the five years I was on the plan, but the executives (who wrote the metrics) always got theirs. I no longer accept job offers where bonuses are a substantial part of the compensation package, because so many companies use it in a bait and switch fashion.
My first professional job paid me a signing bonus in Options, vesting over 4 years. The salary was ‘meh’, but the signing bonus made it, on the surface, seem good. The company went private eventually, but they nullified the options as a first step and then the stock finally went above the strike.
I never made a thin dime from them.
I had something similar, though you’re still better off than me. Not only did my options go to zero when the outfit folded, I’d actually bought extra shares to keep my ownership percentage from getting cut when one of the early investors pumped more money into the company.
All in all, over $2 million in VC money evaporated, largely due to a bad hire the senior management refused to recognize for what it was. Layoffs, a non-compete, long period of unemployment… Yeah, not good memories.
Remember when an old employer ended the pension plan and moved to a 401k plan. They stated they would match our contributions anywhere from 0%-4%. Guess what the match was.
‘Middle-managers’ typically have little control over anything, but responsible for everything. Bend over.
I agree. Middle managers get so much shit.
Of course there are plenty of bad managers, but in my experience a lot of that results from promoting subject matter experts into management roles with NO management training. “Oh you’re a great engineer! Here, manage this global team of engineers! I’m sure your skill sets will transfer nicely!”
Ain’t that the truth. Where I work middle managers get ALL the responsibility and NONE of the authority.
I told them to pass my by on getting promoted to that role. I’d only become a manager if I had hire/fire capability – which I would not. I’m much happier is sales and sales support though I am counting the days to retirement.
Of course they are. They earn that for making the tough decisions – you know, like cutting the compensation for the tier under themselves.
Times are tough. Gotta make Ford Tough decisions.
If the company is doing well, bonuses for great performance. If the company is doing poorly, bonuses to retain top talent.
Sounds great in theory, but it doesn’t necessarily hold in practice. I worked for a company that spent years earning record breaking profits, but “out of an abundance of caution” wages were essentially frozen (two years no raises, one year “half” raises, and promotions were pretty much non-existent or you took it with a vague promise of a pay increase sometime later).
Like a lot of the current RTO mandates, it may have been more of a stealth layoff program more than anything else, but a lot of us quit. The top talent walked out the door.
Meanwhile the CEO got massive raises.
Did any of the top talent leaving make a difference?? I ask, because this is where we are at now, and part of me thinks leaving is bad because then there aren’t any adults in the room.
Are you talking politics?
Seriously, I’ve unfortunately worked for several companies like this. Does not make a difference. Top dogs keep doing business as usual until company crashes. Sometimes take a year, sometimes five. No real skin off their backs…they move on to another plum position, somehow escaping any responsibility.
That guy running Canoo comes to mind.
Basically, yeah.
A company failing hurts a lot of people attached to that company.
The US government failing hurts every person on the planet.
In my experience, talent leaving NEVER makes a difference unless leadership turns over. My former (large, publicly traded) company has been downsliding for years and the CEO and his 3-4 C-suite buddies have only doubled down– 0% bonuses, 5 days RTO, layoffs, etc.
Overall for the company? Arguably no. They’re again flirting with an all time high stock price.
As for the product? Yes, it kind of took a nosedive in the industry.
We’d been winning a lot of new customers, and basically got bought out by the company we’d been “stealing” the most customers from to stop their bleeding. Then we got folded in under the group we’d been outperforming, and our new masters set out to punish us accordingly. It took more than ten years, but they eventually got our facility shut down and the product is essentially handled by a skeleton crew.
The upshot is the customers have to pay more now than they overwise would have, so I guess that’s a win for the parent company from a revenue standpoint (ignoring lost sales due to the higher price point, of course – I can’t say for sure whether revenue would be higher with more customers and a lower price point, but the customers would be better off for sure).
That said, it was also pretty brutal on the 400+ people that used to work locally.
Wow, sure sounds like it did make a difference. This is so frustrating from a intellectual standpoint. You would think that people matter, but the reality is that we don’t. I say all that knowing that it is fundementally wrong.
People matter, experts matter, experience matters.
During the 2008 recession, I worked for a large, multinational company that did the pay and hiring freeze in that same “abundance of caution”. We had to burn vacation time, limit sick time, and double-down on efforts to limit cash flow while maximizing contract closures. We, the engineers, were the hardest hit because we did 90% of the contract development, 100% of the contract scope work, but that 10% the sales and contracts folks did gave them 100% of the credit and all of the perceived value to the executives. We actually had some banner years during the recession, but none of us got a single raise from 2008-2011, no bonuses, and they even removed a couple of holidays because they instituted a policy where everyone had to take December 20-January 5 off with no pay. The executives, however, got the largest bonuses in the history of the company for their success in navigating the recession, and the sales teams all got bonuses and a week-long “team building” retreat in Hawaii. And they could believe why so many of us quit between 2011 and 2012…
I was more just using the lines that are how the executives justify themselves always getting massive bonuses even if performance is shit.
Yeah, you struck a nerve with many of us who have seen this crap up close and personal.
But of course! Those C-Suiters bear the brunt of pivoting the company away from the headwinds.
Or some bullshit like that.
So are these tariff proclamations still under the guise of the “national emergency” of fentanyl?
Can’t be, we specifically appointed a Fentanyl Czar! Which, in my opinion, should have been a random moose. But despite living in the capital, the Prime Minister won’t return my calls.
Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti…
Tell me about it. A moose bit my sister once. But she kinda had it coming, trying to carve her initials in it and all…
I think, in this case, the Fentanyl Czar is primarily tasked with sourcing massive amounts of snortable Adderall.
We have only 4 full size pickups makers thanks to the “Chicken Tax”. Extend that stupid tax to everything on wheels and we’ll be left with 4 auto makers and 1 motorcycle maker, and they won’t be Ford, GM, or Harley…
It does help reduce choice, and discourage competition outside of the USA.
You don’t see many Ram 1500s and Chevy Silverados outside of North America.
New Trabants and Ladas for everyone, woohoo. Although if they aren’t “software defined”, I might say that’s a win…
There aren’t a ton of new vehicles I’m getting excited about, but here’s my short list:
Rivian R3, Scout’s everything, NE Miata, and whatever other sporty manual transmission goodies Toyota has in the works.
I decided to move up my car-shopping timeline due to the probability of new tariffs starting up and the possible immediate short-term effects of increased prices on existing vehicles already on lots before those tariffs actually transpired. I would have liked another few months for cars like the K4 hatch to come on the market but I would never spend $40k for one. Ironically I wound up buying one of the last leftover new 2024 Kia Forte GTs on the lot. I drove it and the K4 GT-Line Turbo as well as the Mazda3 hatch and sedan and just liked that little sucker.
I’m sure it’s not imminent, but I am interested in the next Super Duty truck, simply because if my current one can’t be a “forever” truck for whatever reason, the next one might be my last chance to get something purely ICE powered.
Diesel-electric hybrid, baby! I’d say look into an Edison kit, but that damn 25% tariff…
‘Increase over the course of the year to give time to come in’. How long does he think a factory takes to build? Train Workers? Hire them? Its not sim city, not that he would play because it would involve not bankrupting.
Theres a company building a plant in NY, and its basically having to create a city to support it. And it will be years before its at full capacity- figure 10 from concept to done.
Big projects take time and this isnt how to get them done. And politicians dont like doing them because they get associated with the costs, and get none of the glory with the finished (or mostly finished, see next) product. Best example? The big dig in boston. Great concept but took decades.
What’s the project in NY? What industry? Where? Living in Western NY, I have never heard a thing about this. Very curious.
I think they may be pointing out the semiconductor FAB being built in Albany?
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-new-york-has-landed-first-national-semiconductor-technology-center
That’s a large project, but it’s the larger of the two is likely the Global Foundaries expansion in Malta.
That expansion has been rumored forever and ever, and it seems like it’s finally happening for real. These things take a massive amount of time (though setting up a semiconductor plant probably takes far longer than a car assembly line).
The only bummer about projects like this tends to be that the people who work in this sector will be handsomely paid, while nobody else in Saratoga County will be able to afford a house of any kind (this has already happened honestly).
Micron in Clay
The Republican party is based on lies, corruption, hypocrisy, and (I’m adding this to my list) magic.
It will take magic, and only magic, to expect any of those things to “come in”. There is a VERY inappropriate joke sitting right there I won’t touch.
They’ve also got a “wish in one hand, ???? in the other” mentality.
I agree with everything you said, but I will add customer approval to the list. In many industries–including automotive– the thousands of suppliers cannot just move manufacturing to a new location. The customer has to approve the move in the first place and then we can start the multi-year process of all the things you mentioned, plus several months to years of process and part approvals. And now the downstream supply chain is altered (for example, your supplier was across the street, now they are across an international border), so you get that to deal with too.
We are talking about thousands of people and billions of dollars and years of time. Ugggh, can you tell I’m extremely frustrated by this?!
Sure is fun living in a country run by a geriatric king who’s officially not bound by any laws and chooses to establish new rules that affect everyone because of what the TV told him that morning.
1 month in and I’m exhausted. Which I know is the intention.
Yeah it’s not good. I’ve completely checked out, the way I see it the way to hurt him the most is to not pay any attention to him.
So, a lot of Civ 3, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Star Trek on Paramount Plus.
Enjoy the privilege of being checked out. I’m sitting here paranoid that Medicare coverage for my elderly mom who has been in skilled nursing care for the last 2 months will run out and that problem will land in my lap, jeopardizing the financial future of me and my wife. I keep using the analogy of the steamroller scene in Austin Powers. We can see it coming to crush us for miles but all we can do is stand there and wait for it happen.
That’s not a fun place to be. But very cool that you’re being a good kid and taking care of her.
You were already sunk in that unfortunately and it had nothing to do with the current administration.
Medicare only provides skilled nursing for 90 days. Then anyone needing skilled care enter into a drawdown period where all their assets are used to fund for the care. The drawdown stops at $10k cash and a vehicle worth less than $50k (I believe) after that Medicaid kicks in and funds the rest until they pass.
If she owns her house you should contact an elder law attorney to see if you can protect it (and other assets). Depending on your state and the county she resides in you may be able to save some of the assets.
True this. My in-laws had to jump through all kinds of hoops to get my wife’s grandmother into long-term care without destroying her finances.
In the end, I don’t think they were successful.
There is a look back period, the length depends on the state. I think it would be worthwhile for you to reach out to a lawyer though. I think a consolation would be free.
Long time ago now, water under the bridge.
Consolation is always free, which is why people love “thoughts and prayers” so much but are less apt to take any concrete action to help.
(not really trying to bust your chops here, but i think you meant to write “consultation”)
I’ve also been deep into Trek. There’s something about the hope of humanity actually being decent and doing the right thing that I wanna believe so hard.
Yeah, both Burnham and Saru have some inspiring things to say. Pike too.
LOWER DECKS! LOWER DECKS!!! LO…what? They cancelled it? Damnit :-/
I know, it’s a travesty. I absolutely love that show.
How crazy is it that Dawnn Lewis and Phil LaMarr have played husband & wife on two different sci-fi cartoons?
I think it’s one of the best fan shows in the ST universe, in that you can tell that the writers are actual fans of the ST shows with all the easter eggs and callbacks that they brought into LD. Easily my favorite ST franchise now.
My fear at first that it was going to be all ‘memberberries, but it rapidly went on to be an incredibly entertaining show with massive heart that expanded on the existing lore while creating some memorable moments all its own.
I want to think I’m a Mariner but in reality I’m probably Boimler.
I’m pretty much Doctor T’ana at this point.
Which series do you recommend starting with? All I’ve seen is the first JJ Abrams movie and as far as my memory goes, nothing else.
Don’t start with the original series. To do it in chronological order, start with Enterprise. If you like episodic television, start with Next Gen. If you like serialized storytelling, start with Deep Space Nine or Discovery.
Some might prefer to start with the most modern one and then go back, if this is the case then start with Strange New Worlds.
Thank you! Looks like I’m getting a Paramount sub.
Finally getting the TNG blu-rays was one of my better decisions in the last 12 months. I wish Patrick Stewart was president. He doesn’t even have to “be Picard.” I just want an adult at the helm. An adult that doesn’t sound like they deepthroated a cheese grater would be a plus.
Shit, I’ll take Wesley Crusher at this point.
Hell… any Ferengi would be great at this point.
Our current president doesn’t have the lobes for the job.
No, it seems all he wants is OO-mox.
My dog’s turds have more integrity than that freaking imbecile. We are so screwed.
Good on Zelensky telling him and Putin to fuck off also.
If we’re talking about a new generation of a production car that I know is coming out, basically none.
New cars outright, maybe the Rivian R3.
Same, fingers crossed Rivian stays in business long enough to make the R3X and it looks like that preproduction car and costs less than the R2. If all of that happens it’ll be my next car.
No new generation of current production car I am looking forward to really. I am looking forward to the R3X from Rivian and the Scout. But would be most excited if Toyota brought back the FJ in some type of forum (as long as it is an off roady suv not cross over like the blazer).
I like the R3 and R3X because they look like hot hatches, I have a sinking suspicion that they are going to be a lot closer to a CUV than a GTI so I expect my excitement to wane when they are finally out in public.
Yeah the Ioniq 5 is the same way with me I thought oh cool a hot hatch but nope it is like the size of a minivan
What role would an FJ take that isn’t already filled by the 129 new BoF vehicles they’ve launched in the past two years?
Being a current FJ owner. I prefer the style and also the short wheel base over things like the 4runner/Land cruiser. Be nice if they had a body on frame 2 door to compete with the Wrangler and bronco. (Yes the FJ is technically a 4 door since suicide doors)
Yeah. It’s a shame the 250, 4R, and GX are all basically the same vehicle with different available options.
There’s precedent for the 4Runner to be 2door with a removable top to compete directly with the 2dr Bronco and Wrangler. And with the Bronco being IFS, there would be less moaning that a 1st gen 4Runner revival would come out as IFS as well.
Brofist for the Goya reference in the first line. Going to see that at the Prado next month, one of my all-time favorites. And I’m not an art wonk by any stretch.
Hopefully it’ll be a lesson to my kids.
If art is all about making you feel, then Goya is probably the greatest artist of all time. Although Picasso’s “Demoiselles D’Avignon” is my all-time favorite painting, Goya’s “The Dog” is a close second even though I, ahem, “get something in my eye” every time I look at it.
Picasso’s “Guernica” is all about the feels…many different ones. One of my favorites.
No doubt. It has to be seen in person to appreciate it… it’s really immersive.
Oddly there’s a full size replica at a nearby museum in Palm Harbor Florida. It’s a good one too, as I’ve seen the original.
I promised the kids we’d only do one art museum, but Madrid has 3 big ones really close together, so maybe I’ll twist their arms. Seeing Guernica in person would be amazing. My 11yo is studying the WWII era…I never had the opportunity to see any of these places until I was much older, after I had been bored by history class as a kid. It changes things a lot when you have a real frame of reference.
I’m old enough to have seen it many times at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan where it hung in exile until the Republic was established after Franco’s death. It was two blocks from my office and my company subsidized free entry to museums then too.
P800, the electric F150, is also being delayed by at least a year. They are taking a different approach with this one, not much of a similarity on platforms like how currently the electric F150 is just a regular F150 with batteries on it.
I really like the current F150 with the midlife cycle updates, it looks the best of the Big 3, it has the right powertrain options, they should just focus on improving quality, use more of the mentality of Toyota, small changes over time.
Agree, the current F150 seems like a great truck. They’re probably the cleanest looking, and I’ve been researching them and finding that reviewers really like them. I’m not really excited about any new vehicles, but I’m thinking a 2- or 3-year-old current gen F150 could be a good replacement for my 4Runner.
I want a Maverick EV so bad. Word on the street is that’s Fords Skunkworks project and I just want to buy it.
I have a feeling they’re delaying the F150 so they can do an EREV like Ram and Scout and need time to work it