Ford unveiled its new 2021 F-150 on Thursday, a hybrid truck loaded with features, and reportedly able to travel 700 miles on a tank of gas.
"This is the first major update for five or six years for us. It's America's best-selling vehicle, and we have to keep it, not just updated, but the best-in-class," said Jim Farley, Ford's chief operating officer.
Despite upgrades like over-the-air system software updates, the full-size pickup truck still relies partially on gas as fuel in an era of all-electric vehicles coming from the likes of Tesla or Nikola.
However, Farley noted that the auto giant has plans for that space as well.
"In the next 24 months, we will launch an all-electric F-150, and we aren't stopping there. We're also going to launch an all-electric transit van," he said. "The hybrid F-150 we're launching this fall is going to be a great bridge to that."
Even as Ford looks to the future, the automaker, like everyone else, had to contend with the present coronavirus pandemic, requiring changes and upgrades to their manufacturing operations in order to get back up to speed.
"It was a really difficult time for Ford, but we used that downtime to prepare for what we're going through now, which is getting up to full production," Farley said about the past several months. "This week is a marquee week for us. We're up almost to full production in North America, we're building production in Western Europe and in China, around the world."
He also explained how Ford drastically reconfigured its facilities to prevent the spread of coronavirus and made changes including aggressive cleaning, temperature checks, food delivered directly to workers, and customized personal protective equipment.
"We've had to put social distancing into our plants and redesign all the workspaces," he explained. "It's been months and months of planning, and it's all paid off now."
Oracle soars as it cashes in on the AI boom, Plus: Starbucks shares continue to fall under its new CEO, and does anybody actually want a new iPhone Air?
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
Aurimas Sabulis, CEO of Dextall, unveils how AI‑driven prefabricated façades slash design time by 80%, labor by 87%, and accelerate affordable housing delivery.
Online broker Robinhood Markets will join the S&P 500 index Online broker Robinhood Markets will join the S&P 500 index as its stock rides higher on a cryptocurrency wave.
