Even at the time they signed Ford it was clear Ford was not going to make any fundamental contribution. And Ford might not be too thrilled to develop IP not road relevant. It's likely they will help with some power electronics stuff.langedweil wrote: ↑01 Aug 2025, 16:39Yeah .. you could be right, as you said it was all a while back and we don't know about movement afterwards the initial startup.venkyhere wrote: ↑01 Aug 2025, 16:11I thought RBR made several poachings from Honda itself, for their RBPT project - both ICE and electrical side. I don't remember the details, but the 'takeaway' from reading news items from a few years ago was that the 'core' of the RBPT is ex-Honda engineers, and the poachings from Mercedes were fill-ins. Subject to correction, of course.langedweil wrote: ↑01 Aug 2025, 15:52
As far as I understand Ford isn't delivering the ICE, that's RBPT ... and RB poached a lot of clever minds for that project (from MB, Fer). Ford at least started off as a electrifying partner, which is gonna be a large part of the power next year.
So as to the ICE I'm not really worried, it's rather the ERS and mapping where they might be on the backfoot to the big OEM's.
But who knows ...
But all in all, it's not a bunch of hobby enthusiasts that's building up the ICE.
And they might leverage their buying power in their supply chain to get RBPT what they need which is common practice in such cases.