jsaylor

http://www.autoblog.com/navistar-suing-ford-again/

Navistar is taking Ford back to court, this time over the upcoming 4.4L
TDi V8 Ford is preparing to debut. I actually hope this trend continues since, with Navistar's claims and complaints having already bordered on lunacy a couple of times, even more of the same could potentially give Ford a way to back out of what remains of the deal with Navistar if a Judge decides that Navistar's actions in these matters constitute bad faith on their part.

Zastava_101

What does Navistar wants now? For Ford to stop developing 4.4L?

If they didn't do such a crappy job on 6.0L maybe situation would be different now.

RCSignals

I thought Navistar had nothing to do with the 4.4?

instigator311

Wasn't the 4.4 developed from Land Rover?

jsaylor

Sorry, forgot to leave a link the first time....one has been added. Reports indicate that Ford's upcoming 4.4L TDi V8 is based on Ford of Europe's 3.7L unit built in Dagenham. As best as I can tell Navistar is either claiming...a: that this isn't the case and that Ford is basing the engine on a design initially developed by Navistar and Ford is smploying the same without compensation or credit, or b: that this is a 3.7L Dagenham-based design but Navistar conducted initial development work necessary to transform that 3.7L V8 into the upcoming 4.4L V8 and now Ford is proceeding without them.

With the pain in the *** Navistar has been I hope they get bounced right out of court. IMO Navistar has done more than enough in bad faith at this point to constitute a breach of contract alleviating Ford of their responsibility to fulfill their end of the bargain, a reality which would likely bring us a production version of the upcoming Scorpion TDi V8 sooner ratherthan later.. But, since I'm not passing judgement from the bench I suppose that is just my opinion.

Moosetang

I gotta agree, JS, Navistar's so poorly upheld the their end of the contract I'm still surprise it wasn't voided the last time this went to court. Not to mention the counter-suit Ford could bring for loss of business and damaged brand image. I hope CAT is licking their chops somewhere.

fordboy97f150

maybe ford is hoping to end the contract, they have the ability to make thier own engines, and this would be a great oppertunity to do so

Moosetang

They have the ability to produce the 4.4L on their own, but I don't think they can do the whole range alone. I think the reason Ford hasn't been more aggressive in trying to void the contract is that they're still looking at options, be it expanding their own facilities or a new supplier. In the latter case, having a CAT employee on their board leads me to believe and hope CAT ends up with the contract. As JS and I have discussed before, CAT wants the PR badly enough to not make a mess of it, and they aren't flirting with competing against Ford the way Navistar is with International.

SuperSugeKnight

Doesn't Ford's contract with Navistar end in 2013?