Yes, all the stuff fellow posters are saying about the 2020 U625/U611 launch is true. But really this started way before the tools were even bought. U502 which was replaced by U625/U611 was a money printing machine. Sold every one of them, healthy contribution margin. It was so good GM, Hyundai/Kia, and even Toyota copied it.
The reason why the “non standard” launch was done is because senior leadership wanted to keep cranking out U502s for as long as they could. The U625/U611 cost more to produce, more complexity, etc. than what U502 was.
Why did U625/U611 become such a failure? It was tied to the whole CD6R debacle. You had mo--ns like Raj “the intern enjoyer” Nair who wanted everything to be a race car. You had Herman the German who wanted CD6R to compete against the likes of BMW. This all costs money, and our customers were not interested to pay for it. CD6R was also suppose to underpin sedans and Mustang, all of which failed to TARR out, but yet the brain trust pushed forward with U625/U611. So we ended up with a new platform that was less cost efficient than outgoing with more complexity. At least Raj was a mo--n in other ways, and that pompous a-s clown Herman retired. Ford however is stuck with the legacy of their poor leadership.