By John Branston
Ford Motor Company has delayed, for the second time, rollout of its Blue Oval City E-truck factory 30 miles east of Memphis. The new target date is fall of 2027.
Dang. It’s a huge investment and a huge development you really have to see to appreciate. Odds are it will still happen, but Memphis is not known for its good fortune.
Here are some worries:
Henry, Clara, and Henry grandson Henry II and 1896 Ford
The first Ford in 1896 was called a quadricycle and looked like a bicycle. The Ford Model T 30 years later looked like a horseless carriage. The stylized creations of Harley Earl in the Fifties looked like rocket ships or sharks. All of them had internal combustion engines, were quantum different from what came before, and were wildly popular with American consumers.
The styling changes were not mandated or incentivized by state or federal governments. Whatever their views of climate change and petro-fuels, it seems likely that a lot of Americans who love their F-150s, Lexus, Mercedes, Nissan or Chevy truck, sports car, or SUV will not shift to an EV unless they have to.
Tesla EV
It isn’t a Ford product but the Tesla E-truck is, to my eye at least, an ugly sucker.
A car or truck that got 100,000 miles before being consigned to the junkyard used to be a rarity. Now a high-end vehicle that does not get 100,000 miles is a rarity. My 2004 Lexus SUV is a flawless Toyota product with 220,000 miles on it. A local Lexus dealer is selling one with 230,000 miles on it for $6500.
The gas station with three pumps and full service is obsolete. It was replaced years ago by the Pilot or Lowe’s or Exxon fuel plaza – which is a midget compared to a bully called Buc-ee’s with scores of gas pumps, a retail store to rival Walmart, a barbecue restaurant, an ice cream parlor and all-around viral sensation. Loving a car and a brisket sandwich and the open road is understandable, but loving a fuel plaza is …. troubling.
Gas is not cheap but it is not terribly expensive either. From 2011 to 2014, a gallon of gas cost around $3.50 and sometimes more than $4. Today it costs around $3 or less.
Some of us drivers are control freaks. Cruise control, automatic transmission and power windows are one thing, but a chatty vehicle with too many techie thingamajigs is as painful as a backseat driver..
Finally, if you are of a superstitious mind and over 70 you might remember Ford’s mid-priced Edsel and Detroit Lions quarterback Bobby Layne and the year 1957. The “E-Car” bombed, was scrapped two years later, and Edsel became a synonym for lemon. Layne, who had won three NFL championships in the Fifties, was traded and supposedly said the Lions would never win another one. So far they have not. The Curse of Bobby Layne?
Memphis and West Tennessee were late to the Southern car-factory party, following Middle Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi among others. Blue Oval City could be a huge win. Or a huge disappointment.
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John Branston covered Memphis as a reporter and columnist for 35 years.
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