and Toyota up by 14%, Honda up by double digits, even GM up by 6%. In the context of the market, Ford has just lost yet more share, even if the sales numbers were actually up.
For months and months the market has been telling a story: trucks are on the decline (especially big SUVs), cars are resurgent. At least Ford is in a better position to exploit this trend than GM. But geez, could they ever use an all-new Focus as well right now.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
on the news report in the car coming back in from lunch. I think it was on CBS, so call that the source. Honda up 20%, Toyota up 14, and they didn't announce Nissan. But they did say GM was up 6%.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
"Sales of Ford's new mid-size cars increased 25 percent in January compared with December. Sales of Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, and Lincoln Zephyr totaled 14,714. * Total car sales were 82,710, up 18 percent compared with a year ago."
I'm no mathemtician here, but if car sales were up 18% over a year ago, and they were only up 2% overall, then there must have been a pretty steep decline in truck sales vs January '05.
And that was with the brand new Explorer only a few months on the market, that they went to so much trouble to update last year, and with zippy new Expeditions, short and long wheelbase, currently plugging up the R&D budget instead of development of an all-new Focus.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
About the R&D money.. that is only partially true.. the new Focus has been developed. .the fact that it is not out yet, doesn't mean there was no money put into it.. Actually some "Forum Insiders" claim that it is finished and being tested; much more advanced and upscale; and while still C170, completely different from anything we have right now.
About the growth numbers, well, here are more numbers:
DIVISION...............2006.....2005....CHANGE ------------------------------------------------ Total Ford Cars......61,078...47,823....+27.7% Total Ford Trucks...108,334..115,879.....-6.5% Total Ford Brand....169,412..163,702.....+3.5% ------------------------------------------------
The 2% growth is FoMoCo overall in the USA... so there are makes like Volvo, Jaguar etc that are not doing so well...
Percentage diferences are tricky, because they are affected by many factors... selling 1,000 extra vehicles is 33% growth for Land Rover, while for Ford Cars, selling extra 14,000 cars is only 27% growth.
The Fusion sold 9,999 units in January, easily outpacing cars like Mazda6 and Hyundai Sonata. When Camry sells 27k, that means Fusion is on the radar screen of buyers.
Sonata sales are down 4k units from last January, about 35%! So the Fusion is burning up the 2nd tier of family sedans!
Camry is going to be replaced in less than two months, They are just clearing out the last of the lease-special old model, and are changing over to produce the new one.
Accord is up 9% over a year ago.
Fusion is doing OK, but burning up the segment might be over-characterizing a bit. If it holds that pace all year, it will only be 120K sales. Mostly retail sales I would imagine, so that's something. I am still holding my breath to see which model Ford starts selling in bulk to fleets after April (to replace the then-to-be-defunct Taurus): will it be Five Hundred or Fusion?
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I feel bad for Mazda. All that work on a truly great platform, and Ford's reskin sells a lot more. The same will happen if they bring over the C1 Focus, and it's similar to the Miata/Solstice situation.
It's not a world where two cars that are just as good sell in equal quantities, and one car that's twice as good sells twice as much. Brand name is everything.
Dr Fill. You are completely correct.. that is why the article mentions one needs to look at the historic variation between months of the year to predict annual sales form January numbers.
Moreover, Fusion sales are UP 25% from DECEMBER... that means, the Fusion trio is specific, as it is still gaining momentum... the final annual sales of the trio might be well of ver the predicted 220k.
Nippon How about ford will NOT do bulk sles to fleets..
The new car modesl do not need it.. the Fivehundred trio is selling at a pace 170k a year and the Fusion Trio is selling at this point at the pace of 220k a year and very probably growing considerably.
Focus will continue to be sold to Fleets at bulk, but I do not think there is any justification, other than your personal bias, to think that Ford needs to continue with the dumping a la Taurus with models that are selling well.
Well, my wife just received her new company car, an '06 500 to replace her '03 Taurus. So I guess I'd have to say the 500 will be the fleet car. Actually the 500 makes a great company car. It offers a ton of room for a modest cost and so far it has been getting better fuel economy than the vulcan powered Taurtus my wife had. 2nd tank (it has about 800 miles on it) yielded 26.5 mpg in driving that was 80% highway driving.
It's by far the best company car she's had thus far, when comparing it to the 2 Taurus's and one Impala she had previously. It's the first company car she's had that she actually likes. There are some things I don't like, such as poor on center steering feel and brakes that lack a bit of feel, and lack of power (particularly off the line), but all in all it seems to be a good car in search of more style and a better engine.
Oh, I agree, you would be lucky to get a 500 as a company car, it is worlds better than the Taurus. Why oh why they didn't kill the Taurus after 2000 is a mystery quickly solved by the sound of 1500 UAW workers' hands settling quietly to their sides as they do nothing but get full pay. Which is the answer to your question, igor. It is not a question of bias, it is a question of not idling plants they can't close because of the UAW contracts. Long term, Ford has plans to downsize HARD in the next five years, so perhaps for the NEXT cycle of cars, there will be no mandate for Ford to do big-time fleet sales. But that day has not arrived yet.
And I think dieselone is right - I think the Five Hundred will be the fleet fave, although I expect what will actually happen is they will sell both models to fleets in more moderate percentages than the almost-totally-fleet Taurus.
Maybe they could keep the 3.0 Duratec in the fleet models, a "Five Hundred Classic" so to speak, for fleet sales after the 3.5 arrives in the fall.
Doc: I think Fusion will do fine also. I just don't think it is a front-runner as domestic buyers continue switching back to cars (as they seem to be). I think a lot will jump ship to CamCord, whose sales far exceeded 10K in January. And then again, there is a brand new Altima on the horizon, and the Sonata is here now, with the same price and a better warranty.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
And then again, there is a brand new Altima on the horizon, and the Sonata is here now, with the same price and a better warranty. Yes, but I’d much rather wrap around a tree in car has a Ford badge on it than a Hyundai one. And I think a lot of customers have this misconception about Hyundai.
"...the underlying trends showed that Detroit's automakers are still struggling to hold their ground with consumers. Most of the 7.6 percent rise in January sales reflected a surge in deliveries to car rental companies and other fleet buyers, compared with year-earlier levels."
I would love to see the numbers... common Edmunds. if you know them post them... until I see the numbers I will be sceptical of any analyst saying "yeah it looks rosy, but I know it's not"
Very good point. I'm convinced that's the reason the 0-60 times are equal to or better than all direct competitors, but the reviewers constantly talk about a "weak" engine. The CVT (and I suspect the 6 speeds) are programmed to strive for the best possible gas mileage. I have no complaints when I floor it for WOT. Of course that's one of the reasons (the other being my 85mph avg. on the road) that I only get 17 in town and 22 on the highway, compared to much higher avgs from other posters in a Freestyle AWD. :P
I've discovered this also. You don't have to leave it floored either. Just long enough to tell the CVT that you would like the low gear. It gets around that slushy start that everyone whines about when talking about the Ford CVT.
Yeah people are slow to accept the CVT... I heard that Dodge will program the CVT to "feel" like 6speed automatic, to make it a little less inatractive to conservative buyers...
I think it a great addition to the lineup though..
No doubt the 500 is dog slow off the line. I've completely floored it from a dead stop (activating the switch when the pedal is to the floor) and while it does help, it's still painfully slow to about 20mph. Once underway, it is very responsive. The CVT has really won me over. Other than off the line performance, it's never caught off guard. No abrupt downshifts or upshifts.
You can be cruising at 70mph only turning 1800rpm and easily accelerate if needed since the trans is very good at picking up the required rpm to accelerate. I don't know if CVTs will ever really catch on since 6speed+ autos are on the market, but you can't beat how smooth and responsive they are.
You don't necessarily have to floor it, but you have to depress the pedal very quickly. If you haven't noticed a difference, then you are not doing it correctly.
Exactly. You don't have to floor it just to get some speed. I just press the gas about half way & the RPMs go up to 3000, and most of the traffic after a stoplight is behind me. But you're right, there is that 1/2 second of delay that will be there unless you totally floor it. But I'm used to that and after that first 1/2 second I fly by the other cars without having to floor it.
I think CVTs will replace automatics in the future just for the efficiency of them. I even saw a Nisson Murano advertising the CVT smoothness on TV.
If I'm not mistaken the Murano is only available with CVT.
I tend to agree with other posters that the CVT is the "automatic" of the future. The thing that is so funny to me about all this is that it is not a new product at all, even though many people see it that way. I've heard my dad talk about Buicks with a "straight 8" that had a transmission that sounds exactly like a CVT to me.
Was cruising the business pages this morning, came across an article on February car industry results.
Among other things, it quoted George Pipas, Ford's sales analysis manager, as saying February fleet sales were 41% of all sales!! Whew, can you say overcapacity?
Car sales across F-L-M were up 11% because the Fusion triplets are selling well, but truck sales continue to fall, down 7% for all trucks with Explorer and Expedition falling badly, dragging SUV sales down 20% or more.
By contrast, GM has its fleet sales down to 25% overall (still bad, but better than Ford and Chrysler by far), with incentive spending down $1000 per vehicle vs this time last year.
Overall fleet sales rose 6% last year at Ford.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
"You don't necessarily have to floor it, but you have to depress the pedal very quickly. If you haven't noticed a difference, then you are not doing it correctly."
I don't want to "relearn" how to push down the gas pedal. Just make the thing behave like any other car.....
Well, it's like Chuck says, all those Taurus sales will just turn into Five Hundred sales, so maybe revenue will be OK. The question is whether truck-based SUV sales will ever recover. What a waste of money it was for Ford to redo the Explorer last time - sales have plummeted to half their level of just two years ago.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I was showing a customer how to work the features on his brand new $34,000 Explorer and I discovered that the guy at the factory INSTALLED THE WRONG HEADLIGHT SWITCH. I couldn't turn on the fog lights. Fortunately I had another truck with the right switch to swap with and the customer didn't have to wait long.
One would think that if 30,000 people were worried about keeping their jobs, they would try to build them right. I also blame management though for stupid content decisions.
There use to be only 2 headlight switches, one that just turned on the headlights and one for the fog lights and autolamp.
Every truck that had fog lights ALSO had autolamp. For 06, Ford decides that Autolamp is optional on the XLT (this is how they were able to "lower the MSRP" so now there are 3 possible headlamps switches to choose from.
It reminds me of the first Focus when cars could have either painted or unpainted side trim moldings. Every now and then there would be one with a painted molding on one side and and unpainted on the other.
Even a sport button, on that DOG of an engine will not help. Maybe the long awaited (I got tired of waiting and decided not to buy Ford again) 3.5L will help? Ford is so stupid for not putting the right engine in the 500 from the get go. Hyundai Azera here I come.
Both the 500 and Fusion are fine cars that are almost "there"...each just needs some small changes I think.
500 would benefit from adding the 4.6 V8 as an option (maybe requiring getting the AWD package). Would have the added bonus of nicely position it for eventually taking over the Crown Vic's business with cops and taxi drivers.
All the Fusion needs is a manual transmission option with the V6 engine. Would attract a lot more enthusiast attention that way...
"On the other hand, imagine how low the sales would have been if they hadn't redone it."
Some will say gas prices have affected sales, and that is probably true. However, it's pretty bad when you look at a vehicle that was "redesigned" and it doesn't stand out from the previous year. Ford didn't do enough in terms of a redesign to get this vehicle on people's radar. Some do not like the look of the new Tahoe, but one can honestly say that IT IS DIFFERENT from the previous year. I believe that one of the GM products, either the Trailblazer (like it did last year), or even the full-size Tahoe could very well outsell the "new Explorer".
I am almost a member of the Ford family, having recently bought a 2006 Mazda3 hatchback. It is a terrific little car: Roomy for its size, solid and an absolute blast to drive. And Mazda3 sales are up, so people are slowly catching on to what a great, if little-known, vehicle this is.
The small car market has picked up noticeable of late, no doubt thanks to gas prices, but also due to arrival of some attractive new models. Honda Civic sales are way up this year. Chevy is selling way more Cobalts than it used to sell Cavaliers (why anyone other than rental companies ever bought a Cavalier is beyond me). And Ford, which could have given us the new Euro Focus built on the same great underpinnings as my Mazda, is still peddling the old Focus, lightly facelifted, here. As a result they're eating their competitors' dust.
Hello all, Ford is suffering not only because it has built vehicles that have been substandard but also becasue it is burdened with retirement costs that other manufacuterers don't have. This makes it ever more important to build and sell cars that the market demands. Although the Explorer sales have waned, they are still of significant importance to Ford's bottom line and the remodel was neccessary and money well spent. Ford adressed the issues that needed to be addressed like the cheap plastic interior. Ford has a tendancy to drag their feet compared to Honda who seem to pull farther and farther ahead. Ford should have introduced the 3.5L with the otherwise competent 500 and should not be suprised at the negative press concerning its power. Such decisions are assinine. Also, in the ever important small car market (now that fuel prices are at the center of attention) why is the Focus still on the old platform)? Half-hearted efforts reap half-hearted results (I could easily suppliment other words). Ford is in a zero-error position and can not afford another mistake. I believe that they have good platform and good engines and that management needs to make good decisions. If so, Ford can be saved.
"Ford is in a zero-error position and can not afford another mistake. I believe that they have good platform and good engines and that management needs to make good decisions. If so, Ford can be saved."
Very well stated!
There is no excuse for not bringing over the "new" Focus sooner.
Ford has stopped production of the Sport Trac model for months, and those were included in Explorer sales totals. Compare sales of the new, "regular" Explorer to sales of the old "regular" Explorer from this time last year...sales are UP 8 percent.
"Ford has stopped production of the Sport Trac model for months, and those were included in Explorer sales totals. Compare sales of the new, "regular" Explorer to sales of the old "regular" Explorer from this time last year...sales are UP 8 percent."
There is an Ford Employee board on the web. They report Ford Explorer sales down 4% taking into consideration the Sport trac issues..... Due to Edmunds rules of use...I can't give you the board address.
>Well, it's like Chuck says, all those Taurus sales will just turn into Five Hundred sales, so maybe revenue will be OK. The question is whether truck-based SUV sales will ever recover. What a waste of money it was for Ford to redo the Explorer last time - sales have plummeted to half their level of just two years ago.
Ahh, but the margin in the fully depreciated Taurus platform is much higher than in the newly acquired 500 (S-80) platform, so I'm not sure that sales converted over to 500's will make Bill as much money.
Secondly, the redesign of the Explorer was begun over 5 years ago, back when you couldn't miss with that truck. Who knew gas prices would send the whole segment into a tailspin. GM didn't know, obviously. Sadly, this is like the best Explorer yet, and considerably better than the one it replaces, and nobody cares.
I agree with you, but Ford designers have "carefulitus" right now, and keep trying to maintain the Ford DNA on all of their SUVs. I'm not fond of the new look much either, it's barely distinguishable.
Comments
For months and months the market has been telling a story: trucks are on the decline (especially big SUVs), cars are resurgent. At least Ford is in a better position to exploit this trend than GM. But geez, could they ever use an all-new Focus as well right now.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Yeah, Toyota and Honda gained more. DCX gained about the same.. but for example Nissan lost...
Igor
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
"Sales of Ford's new mid-size cars increased 25 percent in January compared with December. Sales of Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, and Lincoln Zephyr totaled 14,714.
* Total car sales were 82,710, up 18 percent compared with a year ago."
And that was with the brand new Explorer only a few months on the market, that they went to so much trouble to update last year, and with zippy new Expeditions, short and long wheelbase, currently plugging up the R&D budget instead of development of an all-new Focus.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
They also kept American designers and engineers off the project, so you take the good with the bad. :P
DrFill
About the R&D money.. that is only partially true.. the new Focus has been developed. .the fact that it is not out yet, doesn't mean there was no money put into it.. Actually some "Forum Insiders" claim that it is finished and being tested; much more advanced and upscale; and while still C170, completely different from anything we have right now.
About the growth numbers, well, here are more numbers:
DIVISION...............2006.....2005....CHANGE
------------------------------------------------
Total Ford Cars......61,078...47,823....+27.7%
Total Ford Trucks...108,334..115,879.....-6.5%
Total Ford Brand....169,412..163,702.....+3.5%
------------------------------------------------
The 2% growth is FoMoCo overall in the USA... so there are makes like Volvo, Jaguar etc that are not doing so well...
Percentage diferences are tricky, because they are affected by many factors... selling 1,000 extra vehicles is 33% growth for Land Rover, while for Ford Cars, selling extra 14,000 cars is only 27% growth.
Igor
Sonata sales are down 4k units from last January, about 35%! So the Fusion is burning up the 2nd tier of family sedans!
DrFill
Accord is up 9% over a year ago.
Fusion is doing OK, but burning up the segment might be over-characterizing a bit. If it holds that pace all year, it will only be 120K sales. Mostly retail sales I would imagine, so that's something. I am still holding my breath to see which model Ford starts selling in bulk to fleets after April (to replace the then-to-be-defunct Taurus): will it be Five Hundred or Fusion?
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
It's not a world where two cars that are just as good sell in equal quantities, and one car that's twice as good sells twice as much. Brand name is everything.
Fusion will do fine, in my view. 200k is not a major reach, considering Ford's reach.
DrFill
You are completely correct.. that is why the article mentions one needs to look at the historic variation between months of the year to predict annual sales form January numbers.
Moreover, Fusion sales are UP 25% from DECEMBER... that means, the Fusion trio is specific, as it is still gaining momentum... the final annual sales of the trio might be well of ver the predicted 220k.
Nippon
How about ford will NOT do bulk sles to fleets..
The new car modesl do not need it.. the Fivehundred trio is selling at a pace 170k a year and the Fusion Trio is selling at this point at the pace of 220k a year and very probably growing considerably.
Focus will continue to be sold to Fleets at bulk, but I do not think there is any justification, other than your personal bias, to think that Ford needs to continue with the dumping a la Taurus with models that are selling well.
Igor
It's by far the best company car she's had thus far, when comparing it to the 2 Taurus's and one Impala she had previously. It's the first company car she's had that she actually likes. There are some things I don't like, such as poor on center steering feel and brakes that lack a bit of feel, and lack of power (particularly off the line), but all in all it seems to be a good car in search of more style and a better engine.
And I think dieselone is right - I think the Five Hundred will be the fleet fave, although I expect what will actually happen is they will sell both models to fleets in more moderate percentages than the almost-totally-fleet Taurus.
Maybe they could keep the 3.0 Duratec in the fleet models, a "Five Hundred Classic" so to speak, for fleet sales after the 3.5 arrives in the fall.
Doc: I think Fusion will do fine also. I just don't think it is a front-runner as domestic buyers continue switching back to cars (as they seem to be). I think a lot will jump ship to CamCord, whose sales far exceeded 10K in January. And then again, there is a brand new Altima on the horizon, and the Sonata is here now, with the same price and a better warranty.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Yes, but I’d much rather wrap around a tree in car has a Ford badge on it than a Hyundai one. And I think a lot of customers have this misconception about Hyundai.
"...the underlying trends showed that Detroit's automakers are still struggling to hold their ground with consumers. Most of the 7.6 percent rise in January sales reflected a surge in deliveries to car rental companies and other fleet buyers, compared with year-earlier levels."
But good find... good read article
Igor
If you have a car with the CVT FLOOR THE CAR.
There is a button under the gas pedal and if you want the tranny to drop instantly to a low ratio that button has to get pushed in.
If you have a 6 speed, FLOOR IT. There is no direct connection between the pedal and the engine its all electronic.
Mark
:P
It gets around that slushy start that everyone whines about when talking about the Ford CVT.
I think it a great addition to the lineup though..
Igor
You can be cruising at 70mph only turning 1800rpm and easily accelerate if needed since the trans is very good at picking up the required rpm to accelerate. I don't know if CVTs will ever really catch on since 6speed+ autos are on the market, but you can't beat how smooth and responsive they are.
If you haven't noticed a difference, then you are not doing it correctly.
faster, faster...chop chop!
I think CVTs will replace automatics in the future just for the efficiency of them. I even saw a Nisson Murano advertising the CVT smoothness on TV.
I tend to agree with other posters that the CVT is the "automatic" of the future. The thing that is so funny to me about all this is that it is not a new product at all, even though many people see it that way. I've heard my dad talk about Buicks with a "straight 8" that had a transmission that sounds exactly like a CVT to me.
Very weird.
Mark.
Among other things, it quoted George Pipas, Ford's sales analysis manager, as saying February fleet sales were 41% of all sales!! Whew, can you say overcapacity?
Car sales across F-L-M were up 11% because the Fusion triplets are selling well, but truck sales continue to fall, down 7% for all trucks with Explorer and Expedition falling badly, dragging SUV sales down 20% or more.
By contrast, GM has its fleet sales down to 25% overall (still bad, but better than Ford and Chrysler by far), with incentive spending down $1000 per vehicle vs this time last year.
Overall fleet sales rose 6% last year at Ford.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
AS a sales rep I drive a company provided Taurus. All Taurus are being replaced with the 500 at the end of the lease.
If you haven't noticed a difference, then you are not doing it correctly."
I don't want to "relearn" how to push down the gas pedal. Just make the thing behave like any other car.....
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
One would think that if 30,000 people were worried about keeping their jobs, they would try to build them right. I also blame management though for stupid content decisions.
There use to be only 2 headlight switches, one that just turned on the headlights and one for the fog lights and autolamp.
Every truck that had fog lights ALSO had autolamp. For 06, Ford decides that Autolamp is optional on the XLT (this is how they were able to "lower the MSRP" so now there are 3 possible headlamps switches to choose from.
It reminds me of the first Focus when cars could have either painted or unpainted side trim moldings. Every now and then there would be one with a painted molding on one side and and unpainted on the other.
Mark.
Agreed
Maybe a "sport" button that would change the ratio selection for all of us hot footers.
:-)
Maybe the long awaited (I got tired of waiting and decided not to buy Ford again) 3.5L will help?
Ford is so stupid for not putting the right engine in the 500 from the get go.
Hyundai Azera here I come.
500 would benefit from adding the 4.6 V8 as an option (maybe requiring getting the AWD package). Would have the added bonus of nicely position it for eventually taking over the Crown Vic's business with cops and taxi drivers.
All the Fusion needs is a manual transmission option with the V6 engine. Would attract a lot more enthusiast attention that way...
On the other hand, imagine how low the sales would have been if they hadn't redone it.
Some will say gas prices have affected sales, and that is probably true. However, it's pretty bad when you look at a vehicle that was "redesigned" and it doesn't stand out from the previous year. Ford didn't do enough in terms of a redesign to get this vehicle on people's radar. Some do not like the look of the new Tahoe, but one can honestly say that IT IS DIFFERENT from the previous year. I believe that one of the GM products, either the Trailblazer (like it did last year), or even the full-size Tahoe could very well outsell the "new Explorer".
The small car market has picked up noticeable of late, no doubt thanks to gas prices, but also due to arrival of some attractive new models. Honda Civic sales are way up this year. Chevy is selling way more Cobalts than it used to sell Cavaliers (why anyone other than rental companies ever bought a Cavalier is beyond me). And Ford, which could have given us the new Euro Focus built on the same great underpinnings as my Mazda, is still peddling the old Focus, lightly facelifted, here. As a result they're eating their competitors' dust.
Sad.
Ford is suffering not only because it has built vehicles that have been substandard but also becasue it is burdened with retirement costs that other manufacuterers don't have. This makes it ever more important to build and sell cars that the market demands.
Although the Explorer sales have waned, they are still of significant importance to Ford's bottom line and the remodel was neccessary and money well spent. Ford adressed the issues that needed to be addressed like the cheap plastic interior.
Ford has a tendancy to drag their feet compared to Honda who seem to pull farther and farther ahead. Ford should have introduced the 3.5L with the otherwise competent 500 and should not be suprised at the negative press concerning its power. Such decisions are assinine. Also, in the ever important small car market (now that fuel prices are at the center of attention) why is the Focus still on the old platform)? Half-hearted efforts reap half-hearted results (I could easily suppliment other words).
Ford is in a zero-error position and can not afford another mistake. I believe that they have good platform and good engines and that management needs to make good decisions. If so, Ford can be saved.
Ford would do much better I think knocking $2,000 of the MSRP and only offering a $500 rebate.
Mark
Very well stated!
There is no excuse for not bringing over the "new" Focus sooner.
There is an Ford Employee board on the web. They report Ford Explorer sales down 4% taking into consideration the Sport trac issues.....
Due to Edmunds rules of use...I can't give you the board address.
Sales down 22%---
Ahh, but the margin in the fully depreciated Taurus platform is much higher than in the newly acquired 500 (S-80) platform, so I'm not sure that sales converted over to 500's will make Bill as much money.
Secondly, the redesign of the Explorer was begun over 5 years ago, back when you couldn't miss with that truck. Who knew gas prices would send the whole segment into a tailspin. GM didn't know, obviously. Sadly, this is like the best Explorer yet, and considerably better than the one it replaces, and nobody cares.
It may be mechanically, but they blew it on the redesign. Not distinctive enough! IMHO!!