Watt's Up for the Week of 12/16/2022

As the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. and very nearly a brand (if not an entire economy) unto itself, major news about the Ford F-series pickup is almost always going to be the most significant automotive news of a given week – but, while there is huge F-150 news this week, the Blue Oval brand is going to have to take a back seat to this shocker: For the first time in well over a decade, the cost of making an EV battery has gone UP.

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Ford Jacks Sticker on F-150 Lightning

Prices of everything are going up these days – food, gasoline, our Managing Ed’s subscription to Utne Reader – and vehicles are not immune. We’re not just talking about the haywire used car market or greedy dealer markups, either; Ford has seen fit to hike its asking price for the dandy F-150 Lightning. Again.

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Ford Releases Horsepower Specs For Next-Gen Mustangs

When Ford unveiled the next-generation Mustang at the Detroit Auto Show in September, it was a bit mum on exact horsepower.

Now, we know what the numbers are.

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Rumor Mill: Ford May Return to F1

With F1’s growing popularity on this side of the pond – thanks to the streaming specials and no fewer than three races in America next year – combined with a potential opening at one of the sport’s best teams, rumblings are emerging that Dearborn could once again immerse itself in the crucible of world motorsport.

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Popular YouTuber Complains That Ford Lightning Winter Range Is Too Small

Hoovie's Garage, aka Tyler Hoover, is a popular YouTube influencer, and he's claiming he's "done" with his Ford F-150 Lightning, which he owns with a friend, because the range in the winter isn't good enough.

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Ford Ramps Up F-150 Lightning Production With a Third Shift at Rouge

Ford announced the long-awaited F-150 Lightning electric pickup and immediately had a “line around the block,” so to speak, with people jumping at the chance to own one. Demand has grown to the point that Ford’s looking to add a third shift at its Dearborn, Michigan, assembly plant cope. 

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Used Car of the Day: 1963 Ford Thunderbird

We're going way back in time today -- all the way back to the Sixties. There's some in or near Poughkeepsie, New York, selling a classic 1963 Ford Thunderbird -- and the seller claims the car is in "show" condition.

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Ford Unleashes Track-Only GT Mk IV

Dearborn is having one final fling with what Ford is calling the “last-and-final” of the third-gen Ford GT builds. Set to be called the GT Mk IV – in honor of its Le Mans effort in 1967 – this track-only weapon will have a trick EcoBoost mill pushing 800 horsepower and a completely different wheelbase measurement compared to a standard GT.


In other words, this is a lot more than a cynical paint-n-wallpaper package.

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Rare Rides Icons: The Lincoln Mark Series Cars, Feeling Continental (Part XXIII)


We return to our Lincoln Mark Series coverage today, near the Mark V’s large B-pillar. While our last installment started on the exterior changes Lincoln designers made for the switch from Mark IV to Mark V for 1977, there’s so much car to cover (over 230 inches) that we had to take an intermission. It’s time for vinyl and big rear ends, and we’ll talk about the Mark too.

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Ford’s EV Requirements for Dealers Are Totally Unacceptable, Say Connecticut Legislators

Connecticut legislators from both sides of the political fence appear to be less than thrilled with Ford about the deadline it’s imposing on dealerships vying to sell all-electric vehicles. Blue Oval wants retailers to make sizable investments to install on-site charging stations and retrain their staff on how to service EVs. For some stores, this means doling out over one-million dollars just to have the privilege of selling the latest models coming from the Ford Motor Company.

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Rare Rides Icons: The Lincoln Mark Series Cars, Feeling Continental (Part XXII)

In the last installment of our Lincoln Mark coverage, we learned about some new objectives Lincoln brass pursued for the transition from Mark IV to Mark V. There were two primary goals in mind: Cut development costs, and simultaneously allow the Mark more independence from Thunderbird. As a result, the Mark V of 1977 used the same platform as the old Mark IV, and Thunderbird was downsized to become a Mercury Cougar sibling. Further, in an attempt to move with the times and recognize that fuel economy mattered a little bit at the end of the Seventies, Lincoln engineers reworked the Mark IV platform for Mark V duty.

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F-150 Lightning Bricked at Electrify America Charging Station

We’ve all had the experience of plugging our phone in and having it display an error message with some lame excuse about why it can’t charge. Many of us have likely had a similar experience with an electric vehicle. However, the stakes are quite a bit higher when we’re talking about the electricity needed to charge an EV. A Ford F-150 Lightning owner discovered how serious charging can be when a recent trip to an Electrify America charging station went wrong. 

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Super Duty Raptor Not Off the Table: Ford

Just like the scientists at Jurassic Park kept coming up with new and increasingly terrifying raptors (weaponized heat-seeking Indoraptor, anyone?), Ford seems content to infuse Raptor DNA into most of the trucks it sells – even the mighty Super Duty, according to a fan forum.

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Rare Rides Icons: The Lincoln Mark Series Cars, Feeling Continental (Part XXI)

When the Continental Mark IV was introduced for the 1972 model year, it wore close visual ties to the smash hit that was its predecessor, the Mark III. After federal safety legislation altered the front of the Mark IV’s appearance in 1973 and its rear in 1974, the visual connection between the two cars thinned considerably. The Mark IV (like other large PLCs of the time) struggled with regard to sales but received a boost in 1976 with the arrival of the Designer Series editions. The expensive high-profit trims saw the 1976 Mark IV go out on a high-ish sales note of 56,110 examples, around 8,000 more than its debut year in 1972. In 1977 Lincoln aimed once more for PLC success with the new, even larger Continental Mark V.

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QOTD: Is Ford CEO Jim Farley Right?

Today is one of those days in which I pose a QOTD based on an earlier news story -- as if you all aren't already arguing in the comments.

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  • Rick T. If we really cared that much about climate change, shouldn't we letting in as many EV's as possible as cheaply as possible?
  • Slavuta Inflation creation act... 2 thoughts1, Are you saying Biden admin goes on the Trump's MAGA program?2, Protectionism rephrased: "Act incentivizes automakers to source materials from free-trade-compliant countries and build EVs in North America"Question: can non-free-trade country be a member of WTO?
  • EBFlex China can F right off.
  • MrIcky And tbh, this is why I don't mind a little subsidization of our battery industry. If the American or at least free trade companies don't get some sort of good start, they'll never be able to float long enough to become competitive.
  • SCE to AUX Does the WTO have any teeth? Seems like countries just flail it at each other like a soft rubber stick for internal political purposes.