Ram 1500 REV - EV Pickup Mule Spied Testing For First Time 📸

[Ogre]

This is why I said specifically Producing EVs. All of these companies have been dabbling in EVs for a decade or more (even Rivian!), years in actual production is different.

Making a prototypes is vastly different from producing 100s of thousands of vehicles profitably.

Likewise, PHEVs are just their ICE vehicle with a small battery and an electric motor. The economics on BEVs is significantly different. Ford, GM, and Toyota are stuck in that quagmire.

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[charliemagpie]

I have been following this for 5 years now.

I have learned to be impressed by Legacy's ability to do what they have been doing really well. Build and aesthetics. They do have a lot of expertise in design, and they have a network of suppliers who can offer some nice specs. They have it all down pat.

But I'm equally impressed by how hard it has been for them to catch up.

I came to think that with all its leasing debt, Legacy would be better off slowly winding down their sales.

On one hand it looks bad, but their debt exposure is also slowly reducing.

What we could be seeing is Legacy, with all its debt, continuing to manage themselves out of a problem.


I'm making an excuse for them, they still could have done more on the EV front, nevertheless it becomes clearer that creating a wider window of time is critical for them in more ways than one.

 

[Ogre]

Legacy automakers have gotten very good at outsourcing everything so good that they no longer have the expertise to do many things in-house. It’s hard to innovate when 70% of your product is manufactured elsewhere and just rebundled. They outsource their “Infotainment System”, much of their security, their batteries, their starters (ICE), braking systems, etc etc etc.

I think this is a big part of what made the industry so ripe for disruption. They‘ve compartmentalized everything so effectively that thinking of the car as one whole system as opposed to a pile of modules is difficult.

 

[charliemagpie]

If they are blindsiding, they are doing a fantastic job.

They are coming. lol

 

[Ogre]

Well yes… since they are the only ones in the race at the moment.

But it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Looking at the resources Tesla is putting behind Cybertruck production I don’t think Ford and Rivian are going to keep ahead after the 2nd lap.

 

[HaulingAss]

That's not quite right.

The Cybertruck was delayed due to a lack of batteries, not because they didn't have enough time to bring it to market. It was a conscious decision to continue ramping Model Y to higher productions levels rather than divide up their limited number of batteries with another new platform.

Also, legacy auto does not take 3-5 years to design a vehicle and bring it to market, it's closer to about 7-9 years when it's not just a simple refresh of an existing vehicle.

If Tesla releases the Cybertruck next year, that's 4 new models in only 11 years and all of them were pretty much sequential because Tesla doesn't have 3 or 4 new models in active development at any given time.

They went from the Model S in 2012, to the Model X in 2015, to the Model 3 in 2017, to the Model Y in 2020 and Cybertruck in 2023. And the Model 3 to the Model Y was not a simple refresh because the Model Y had a new skateboard, using an aluminum alloy gigacasting for the time ever.

 

[Deleted member 5322]

Does anyone have a web link to the live event?
I am really interested in RAM ( wanna see the difference between GM, FORD, and RAM )

 

[Ogre]

Your guess is as good as anyone’s.

I’m sure they will have some estimated specs. Maybe depends on how far out the launch is. It’s a year+ out I think so maybe not too much, but hard to say.

 

[anionic1]

Those wipers are pathetic

I bet they couldn't even flip the truck back over in a roll over event.

 

[Ehninger1212]

Link for reveal.. 2pm PT

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