I think Ford, selling Jaguar is a good thing. Aston and Jag, are just to much a like. if Hyundai wants to pay Fords price, then that will be good for Ford. Hyundai, can attempt to revive the brand, or destroy it further. :confuse:
Rocky
P.S. Ford has to many luxury marques and will beable to better concentrate on the ones they have left.
At this point, things are getting so tight in Dearborn that Ford would need every penny from the sale of Jaguar or any other PAG company for the FORD brand. Forget about Lincoln...
Afraid I agree with grbeck on this one, rocky. Things are very bleak over there right now, they're barely running on 5 cylinders.
Secondly, Ford's luxury brands don't overlap at all. First, Lincoln is gone for now, or forever. That leaves Jag, which no where close to the Aston Martin price range. If Jag and L/R go, ford will sell no luxury brands on the other side of the drink. Or here, I guess.
Agree $21Bil is a lot, but they need to be careful not to rely on cash to keep themselves afloat. Recent results: 2Q06 Net Loss $123 million 1Q06 Net Loss $1.2 billion
Even with selling assets that buys some time. But the other issue is financing. At junk bond status for both Ford and Ford Credit it limits their ability to loan money competitively. They had $153Bil in total debt, figure the additional interest and you can see a downward spiral. What if no one loans them money? Better sell Jag and Aston quick...
Then have Toyota and the others who can get cheap(er) money to invest...and expand...and compete. Unfortunately assets don't make you money, cash flow does and they're cash flow poor.
Yes, they have $21B, and the entire Ford family fortune to back them, but note the debt they also have. That's the side often forgotten. Net worth of the company may be closer to negative than one may think, with the real estate and plants taken out. Meantime, it costs Billions to develop a new model....so we get the Zephyr.....
Look, Rocky - I'm a Ford guy! Nobody is rooting for the home team more than I am - but other than the, uh....Zephyr, which I know you like, and you know I don't, what else has hit the dirt that I've missed? I'm talking about in production, not just at the auto shows?
Look, Rocky - I'm a Ford guy! Nobody is rooting for the home team more than I am - but other than the, uh....Zephyr, which I know you like, and you know I don't, what else has hit the dirt that I've missed? I'm talking about in production, not just at the auto shows?
Well you don't know me quite as well as you think. :P nv, I actually am not a big fan of the Zephyr or as they will call it this fall the MKZ ! THE Lincoln Mark S or otherwise known as the MKS is my favoritest car Ford has ever made. I as you know pull for the home team and want both GM, and Ford to do very well. I also won't buy their crap with over-priced stickers. The reason why I'm supporting Lincoln and Ford is because I think Ford can keep the sticker down on the MKS, and restore the Lincoln brand image. The question I ask everybody is would you buy a RL over this MKS ? The large majority of the people I asked at work said well I like that slightly bigger car (The Lincoln) After I tell them it's a Lincoln, many were like when did Lincoln make cars for younger people. Alot of them thought it was also a new Lexus. LOL
Lincoln, could have a winner because the car is attractive to most of the people I polled.
Rocky
P.S. The MKS, will soon be a production car and will be the Lincoln Flagship. Here's the new Lincolns NVBANKER if you haven't seen em' yet. http://www.lincoln.com/reachhigher/
I've been to this site (it's an excellent one though) before. I eagerly anticipate the appearance of these cars. Sadly, the 07 Navigator is almost upon us, with the el-cheapo instrument panel, and NO NAVIGATION AVAILABLE??? If it is, they should show it in the ads, so you'll know. Same with the interior in the MKX. (Still liked the Aviator name). They look interesting all right, but the S and X are not here yet. And my point was, they're not here yet.
The MKX looks very interesting from a crossover point of view. The MKS looks great as is. Wonder how they'll dumb it down for production? If it came out like it looks there, I'd give it a serious look.
Yeah nv, I'm wondering if Ford, will dumb down the MKS interior to the point where I won't like it anymore or not ? I think the suede idea is something new atleast. Sure I'd be okay if they slapped 100% leather material where the suede is, but the Sueade does have advantages as I think it's cheaper to buy and is cooler in the summer since it's a little like cloth. I guess the MKS having ventilated seats helps that issue out anyways. I think suede would be a little more durable than leather wouldn't it ?
So does that mean Ford won the lawsuit with Honda?
I seem to recall that part of Ford's defense was that the designations wouldn't be pronouced as each individual letter (as Acura already did), but as "Mark -whatever- ".
You know the alpha-numeric trend has hit rock bottom when the domestics start doing it... It was already getting annoying when the Asian firms started doing it, but this is even worse...
Ford just said it's reducing the rest of the year production by 20% (190K vehicles). Not good for them, but it's a smart move. They don't want to get caught with the inventory glut that Chrysler had this year.
If Jag and L/R go, ford will sell no luxury brands on the other side of the drink.
Where does Volvo fit in in the luxury continuum? Not truly luxury? Why? Near luxury, I guess? I suspect the answer, if one's given, is that the cars are FWD or AWD and less than 8 cylinders, except for the new Yamaha engine coming out. Maybe I just run around with a blue collar crowd, but people I know still seem impressed with the Volvo name.
DEARBORN, Mich. — Based on Ford's depressed stock price, it would cost a potential investor a modest $15 billion or less to buy the Ford Motor Company and take it private.
That's less than one-tenth the value of rival Toyota Motor Co. and only a quarter of DaimlerChrysler's market capitalization.
And guess who is interested in a takeover? The Fords themselves.
Ford's stock appears to be so undervalued by Wall Street that the Ford family reportedly is getting serious about raising the money to take the company private, as Chairman William Clay Ford, Jr. and his executive team attempt to restructure — and, they hope, revitalize — the struggling automaker.
The Ford family owns about 5 percent of the company's outstanding shares but controls 40 percent through a separate Class B stock.
Bill Ford also had his third conversation with celebrity CEO Carlos Ghosn, who heads the Renault-Nissan alliance, according to reports originally in The Wall Street Journal. Ford reportedly told Ghosn that he'd be interested in talking if Ghosn's talks with General Motors Chairman Rick Wagoner fall apart.
Ford recently hired former Goldman Sachs investment banker Kenneth Leet to help it explore a range of options, including the possible sale of Jaguar, Land Rover and other brands.
What this means to you: If the Ford family elects to take the company private — and persuades Carlos Ghosn to take the reins — Wall Street could be singing a new tune within two years. But what a jolt it will be for the Ford name and all who love it.
That's an interesting thought, get rid of the baggage Wall Street brings. Not sure if thats a plus or minus on improving chances on the financing side for re-investment once they are restructured.
Sell everything but Ford, Merc and Lincoln and that's a real possibility...
"Sell everything but Ford, Merc and Lincoln and that's a real possibility..."
That would only be a temporary solution. The US market and unions are not favorable to GM or Ford anymore, really. Volvo makes money, and contributes technology. Aston-Martin makes money. Mazda makes money. IT's just Jag & Rover that are money pits. IF they have to sell more assets, those two would be the ones to consider.
Volvo and rover just about break even. Rover improved with the LR3 and Volvo is falling slightly do to lack of new product. New S80 will help.
I'm not sure that Ghosn would really do anything different than Mark Fields. They both use the same medicine. Cut costs until it hurts and make stellar product.
Fiels and Ghosn were very successful with Mazda and Nissan respectively because those companies were both open to someone from the outside telling them how to fix what was obviously broken. Will Ford be as receptive?
Look at the kick [non-permissible content removed] product launced very successfully at Mazda:
The 6, the 2 (rest of the world), the 3, RX-8, the 5 (more of an impact in Europe), the new Miata, the CX-7.
None of these vehicles bares any resemblance to the 626 ick. Interestingly, the Fusion feels more like a 626 successor than the Mazda 6.
There are alot of people out there that owned Fords in the past and would buy a new Ford, IF Ford made a product that they liked. The Fusion is definately bringing people over to Ford or returning people.
Mark Fields will help, if there is time, and if there is the money and commitment from Bill to let him do his thing. But it'll take years for new stuff to replace the dismal looking 500, the worn out Focus, I guess the Fusion is great, but personally, it does nothing for me. It sits too low, the cowl is too high, and it's nothing to write home about from a styling perspective, IMO. Personally, the 500 is a way more efficient package, much more revolutionary for a large sedan, and probably a better car, just friggin ugly.
Jacques Nasser has already made an offer, which was rejected. He may counter.... I think he'd like to buy the whole PAG group, like he did when he was head of Ford.
I don't think stock dividends are the key factor--in any casee, to buy those shares, they'd have to borrow a lot of money, and the interest would likely be more than dividends--ford dividends are about 2% but they are paying 7-8 in interest.
I think the key factor is they could reorganize massively without having to clear moves at stockholder meetings.
Ford is going to cut their White Collar payroll by 30% next year. I always wonder who does the jobs this 30% is doing now, after their gone...... If it never needed doing in the first place, shame on management. If it never gets done in the future, but should be, that's scary. And if the remaining 70% have to do it after they're gone - how much else will suffer.... Just rambling.
It has to be done to keep the company alive, but I hope these people aren't Engineers and Designers..... :sick:
Yes, I agree, nippon, lean and mean, but they also need lots of new product, product that's attractive and good. A renaissance like 1983, when the new Thunderbird debuted, followed by the Tempo & Taurus. Those were the heydays (whatever that means) and what did Peterson and Caldwell get for taking Ford there? Edged out by the family! I'm starting to think Fords are what's wrong with Ford.
what's REALLY WHOA? The news tonight announced that those hourly employees Ford is now begging to retire early or quit with a $140K pay-off, average $64/hour for pay! That's unbelievable, and it's no wonder at all that Ford is going broke.
I noticed that the Town Car made it to planned Canadian production after this year - I guess they aren't that confident about the future sales of the MKS/MKZ/MKwhatever.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Ford and GM, both have almost exact pay plans. GM claims $81 an hour and Ford says $64 an hour. It just goes to show you that GM's spill on wages were a lie. Even steve Miller from delphi claimed $65 an hr. and his workers don't make as much as Fords.
There are probably many thousands of jobs at GM and Ford that are absolutely simple featherbedding...there are supposedly 11 layers of employees from the CEO down to the lineworker at GM, while Toyota does it with only 7 layers...that means four layers of middle "management" is probably worthless paper shufflers who just add to the cost structure w/o being "noticed"...
Many of those jobs are remainders of the "good old days" when GM could just make jobs that did not exist (assistant to the assistant semi-grand poobah) and just raise the price of each car $100 to cover the cost...those holdovers now cost money that is very precious, and the work they do is totally unnecessary...I wouldn't be surprised if computers have actually made even MORE 1000s of paper-pusher jobs unnecessary, but the ax has not fallen yet, altho it seems that Ford is finally getting the message...
When Ford is all done, do not be surprised if they suddenly find that another 10-20,000 jobs can be eliminated...
WOW, I was always under the impression that Ford had layers layers than GM, but a few have said quite the opposite. I recognize just how lean and mean Toyota is....I think GM, should offer the UAW, workers a straight wage like they are doing to the new hires now so they can reduce the layers of management even further. I of course don't want to see people lose their jobs in management, but it does make good buisness sense.
I worked for large corporations until 1999, when I left and started up my own business. I'm completely conversant with the "downsizing, rightsizing, furloughed, reduction in force" paradigm and function. I was in the boardroom many times with names of people on a wall, deciding who would live and who would die. Also, realizing that somewhere in another boardroom, my name was probably on a wall and someone else was deciding my fate for me. That's why I got out. The thing is, as painful as it was each time we downsized and reduced the workforce, oddly enough, things still got done without all those people. I don't know how a company gets so fat, and what all of those people do! At Ford and GM, all those people probably are the ones who block new ideas and products, and find a reason to not make any progress. GM especially, is the slowest company on earth to react or act. Ford is not far behind, but Ford has been the car company that has revolutionized the industry time after time, not GM. The Mustang, Thunderbird, Taurus, Ranchero and Navigator and even the reinvention of the Mustang all were out years before GM could do anything. GM has introduced pretty much nothing, but copied Ford's innovation and brought something out in a few years, sometimes better, sometimes not, but it shows that Ford can occasionally stumble into greatness and act much more quickly than GM. That's why it so amazes me what a mess they have gotten themselves into now. How the hell did Bill Ford manage to take his company from vital to intensive care in just 6 years? Quite a feat. I've been a Ford guy all my life, but I'm actually afraid to buy one right now - I'm just concerned that the car may be a disaster due to starvation of adequate funding to build it well.
nvbanker: GM especially, is the slowest company on earth to react or act. Ford is not far behind, but Ford has been the car company that has revolutionized the industry time after time, not GM. The Mustang, Thunderbird, Taurus, Ranchero and Navigator and even the reinvention of the Mustang all were out years before GM could do anything. GM has introduced pretty much nothing, but copied Ford's innovation and brought something out in a few years, sometimes better, sometimes not, but it shows that Ford can occasionally stumble into greatness and act much more quickly than GM.
In that same vein, here's an interesting comment from a road test of the 1965 Ford Fairlane in the March 1965 issue of Car Life:
"The ironic thing about this is that the Fairlane started it all. It was the appearance of the Fairlane which crystallized that 'intermediate' measure in the market. Competitors from across town then rather rapidly introduced the A-body quadruplets and, with that bit more of bulk and polish that is invariably a GM trademark, proceeded to steal the play right away from the innovator."
Remember that with the Fairlane, Ford was the first of the Big Three to enter the "intermediate" segment (Rambler had created the class with its basic Rambler, named the Classic after 1961.)
In the 1950s and 1960s, GM wasn't too aggressive about uncovering new market niches, but when it did enter a particular segment, it usually brought out a model that was at or near the top of the class. Since the late 1970s, however, GM has not only been late to the party, but its entries have, too often, been mediocre at best.
Unfortunately, Ford hasn't uncovered any segments, or really set a segment on fire, since the birth of the original Explorer. And it just let its car business wither away after the 1996 Taurus flopped in the market.
This company has been asleep at the switch for far too long.
It is easy to criticize Bill Ford for failing to solve the problems you earlier argue are a result of the massive amounts of corporate bureaucracy at Ford....
But if you think about, that corporate bureaucracy is also standing in the way of any solutions.
I think that what Ford failed to recognize was that the car business was not under going a usual cyclical change at the start of the century, but rather a fundamental change.
Ford suffered a failure of imagination as to "what will people want to drive in 5 years". Also, Ford failed to retool itself to react more quickly to the market place with new products, EVEN AFTER the competition already had.
I have faith that the American people STILL have enough affection for Ford that if Ford builds good competitive product, people will buy it.
We have people come into the dealership JUST TO LOOK at a GT500 in person. Old people, young people, kids.
Do you really think people go into a Toyota dealership just to look at a Toyota?
Does anyone really go into a Honda dealer to look at an S2000 just so they can say they did to their friends?
people go into Toyota dealerships to buy Toyotas, which is really the point, isn't it? I just think the days of people being emotionally compelled to purchase a car because of a company's halo model are falling further behind us with every passing day. This applies more to companies like Toyota that are out to sell transportation appliances, and less to companies like Chrysler that are trying to sell "passion" or "excitement" or some such thing with every model they have, but it applies to some extent across the board, and CERTAINLY to Ford, which (let's face it) doesn't have too many thrillers in the line-up these days.
It would be cool to do a small unscientific survey in your dealership to see how many people who come in to ogle a GT500 actually stay to buy a car.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
To me, a big question re this is: are there enough "enthusiasts" still in the market who would be swayed by halo vehicles to make such vehicles a viable strategy (I'm assuming that the halo technique in fact works), or is the market becoming more and more "appliance" shoppers?
I'm personally in the "enthusiast" category (for instance, the fact that Ford built and sells the GT matters to me) but most people I know fall into the "appliance" category. :confuse:
"Unfortunately, Ford hasn't uncovered any segments, or really set a segment on fire, since the birth of the original Explorer. And it just let its car business wither away after the 1996 Taurus flopped in the market."
Well the Focus was a sales success for a few years in the US before too many recalls dented its reputation. Than Ford just let the Focus age. The car is now what in its 7th year of the same bodystyle? Thats too long to let a car go without redesigning it. I know there will be a refresh for the Focus in 08 I think but that means nothing in my opinion. The 08 refresh will not pump up Focus sales in my opinion in the US. Once the new Nissan Sentra comes out for 07 the Focus will be the oldest car in its segment.
Also as as Ford's car business is concerned the Fusion is selling good. The Mustang is always a good seller even though sales of it have down this year from sales of it last year. Hey thats the way the coupe market is though. Even though people on this thread are saying Ford is asleep at the wheel the 05 Mustang did make GM and Chrysler take notice though. When the 05 Mustang was selling well last year GM decided to give the Camaro a rebirth and Chrysler decided to throw the Challanger concept out there.
Comments
I think Ford, selling Jaguar is a good thing. Aston and Jag, are just to much a like. if Hyundai wants to pay Fords price, then that will be good for Ford. Hyundai, can attempt to revive the brand, or destroy it further. :confuse:
Rocky
P.S. Ford has to many luxury marques and will beable to better concentrate on the ones they have left.
Secondly, Ford's luxury brands don't overlap at all. First, Lincoln is gone for now, or forever. That leaves Jag, which no where close to the Aston Martin price range. If Jag and L/R go, ford will sell no luxury brands on the other side of the drink. Or here, I guess.
I don't care how bad they are doing, thats still alot of money.
If they had to they could always recapitalize from the family as well.
Fortune magazine lists Ford's assets as $269,476,000,000.
Mark
2Q06 Net Loss $123 million
1Q06 Net Loss $1.2 billion
Even with selling assets that buys some time. But the other issue is financing. At junk bond status for both Ford and Ford Credit it limits their ability to loan money competitively. They had $153Bil in total debt, figure the additional interest and you can see a downward spiral. What if no one loans them money? Better sell Jag and Aston quick...
Then have Toyota and the others who can get cheap(er) money to invest...and expand...and compete. Unfortunately assets don't make you money, cash flow does and they're cash flow poor.
Rocky
Well you don't know me quite as well as you think. :P
nv, I actually am not a big fan of the Zephyr or as they will call it this fall the MKZ !
Lincoln, could have a winner because the car is attractive to most of the people I polled.
Rocky
P.S. The MKS, will soon be a production car and will be the Lincoln Flagship. Here's the new Lincolns NVBANKER if you haven't seen em' yet. http://www.lincoln.com/reachhigher/
Same with the interior in the MKX. (Still liked the Aviator name). They look interesting all right, but the S and X are not here yet. And my point was, they're not here yet.
The MKX looks very interesting from a crossover point of view. The MKS looks great as is. Wonder how they'll dumb it down for production? If it came out like it looks there, I'd give it a serious look.
Rocky :shades:
Lincolnd announced that the model names will NOT be pronounced as Mark X or Mark Z or Mark S. Just M K S, etc.
You know that once the person who thought letter names is gone (retired, fired or laid off), Ford will come up with something new to confused people.
Mark.
I seem to recall that part of Ford's defense was that the designations wouldn't be pronouced as each individual letter (as Acura already did), but as "Mark -whatever- ".
You know the alpha-numeric trend has hit rock bottom when the domestics start doing it...
Where does Volvo fit in in the luxury continuum? Not truly luxury? Why? Near luxury, I guess? I suspect the answer, if one's given, is that the cars are FWD or AWD and less than 8 cylinders, except for the new Yamaha engine coming out. Maybe I just run around with a blue collar crowd, but people I know still seem impressed with the Volvo name.
I'm just curious about opinions here.
Rocky
Only the S-80 is a true Luxury car from Volvo, IMO. The rest are "nice & safe" though.
That's less than one-tenth the value of rival Toyota Motor Co. and only a quarter of DaimlerChrysler's market capitalization.
And guess who is interested in a takeover? The Fords themselves.
Ford's stock appears to be so undervalued by Wall Street that the Ford family reportedly is getting serious about raising the money to take the company private, as Chairman William Clay Ford, Jr. and his executive team attempt to restructure — and, they hope, revitalize — the struggling automaker.
The Ford family owns about 5 percent of the company's outstanding shares but controls 40 percent through a separate Class B stock.
Bill Ford also had his third conversation with celebrity CEO Carlos Ghosn, who heads the Renault-Nissan alliance, according to reports originally in The Wall Street Journal. Ford reportedly told Ghosn that he'd be interested in talking if Ghosn's talks with General Motors Chairman Rick Wagoner fall apart.
Ford recently hired former Goldman Sachs investment banker Kenneth Leet to help it explore a range of options, including the possible sale of Jaguar, Land Rover and other brands.
What this means to you: If the Ford family elects to take the company private — and persuades Carlos Ghosn to take the reins — Wall Street could be singing a new tune within two years. But what a jolt it will be for the Ford name and all who love it.
Sell everything but Ford, Merc and Lincoln and that's a real possibility...
That would only be a temporary solution. The US market and unions are not favorable to GM or Ford anymore, really. Volvo makes money, and contributes technology. Aston-Martin makes money. Mazda makes money. IT's just Jag & Rover that are money pits. IF they have to sell more assets, those two would be the ones to consider.
I'm not sure that Ghosn would really do anything different than Mark Fields. They both use the same medicine. Cut costs until it hurts and make stellar product.
Fiels and Ghosn were very successful with Mazda and Nissan respectively because those companies were both open to someone from the outside telling them how to fix what was obviously broken. Will Ford be as receptive?
Look at the kick [non-permissible content removed] product launced very successfully at Mazda:
The 6, the 2 (rest of the world), the 3, RX-8, the 5 (more of an impact in Europe), the new Miata, the CX-7.
None of these vehicles bares any resemblance to the 626 ick. Interestingly, the Fusion feels more like a 626 successor than the Mazda 6.
There are alot of people out there that owned Fords in the past and would buy a new Ford, IF Ford made a product that they liked. The Fusion is definately bringing people over to Ford or returning people.
Mark
The question is: Who'll buy it?
So it could use all that money for other requirements. (like pensions or auto development)
It's a pretty good idea, overall.
I think the key factor is they could reorganize massively without having to clear moves at stockholder meetings.
Rocky
Mulally, 61, was widely praised for being a key architect of the resurgence of Boeing's commercial airplanes unit over the past couple of years.
Now is the time to repurchase your Ford stock.
Interestingly, the bond traders seem to feel ford is less of a risk than GM. GM bonds are paying nearly 10%. Ford bonds are at about 7.5%.
Bez would stay as manager of Aston Martin.
Lots more Ford talk on the Autoextremist this week: the Aston Martin info is 3rd item down.
See: http://www.autoextremist.com/page6.shtml
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060913/AUTO01/609130330/1148-
Mark
Stability control could become required on autos, USA Today 09/11/06
It has to be done to keep the company alive, but I hope these people aren't Engineers and Designers..... :sick:
Of course there may be 30% less work what with downsizing - hence the 30% reduction in white collar workers.
Ford needs to become a lean, trim, fighting machine. Less people are needed in the new millennium, pure and simple.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
WHOA !!!! :surprise:
Rocky
I noticed that the Town Car made it to planned Canadian production after this year - I guess they aren't that confident about the future sales of the MKS/MKZ/MKwhatever.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Rocky
Many of those jobs are remainders of the "good old days" when GM could just make jobs that did not exist (assistant to the assistant semi-grand poobah) and just raise the price of each car $100 to cover the cost...those holdovers now cost money that is very precious, and the work they do is totally unnecessary...I wouldn't be surprised if computers have actually made even MORE 1000s of paper-pusher jobs unnecessary, but the ax has not fallen yet, altho it seems that Ford is finally getting the message...
When Ford is all done, do not be surprised if they suddenly find that another 10-20,000 jobs can be eliminated...
Bob
Good post IMHO by you.
Rocky
In that same vein, here's an interesting comment from a road test of the 1965 Ford Fairlane in the March 1965 issue of Car Life:
"The ironic thing about this is that the Fairlane started it all. It was the appearance of the Fairlane which crystallized that 'intermediate' measure in the market. Competitors from across town then rather rapidly introduced the A-body quadruplets and, with that bit more of bulk and polish that is invariably a GM trademark, proceeded to steal the play right away from the innovator."
Remember that with the Fairlane, Ford was the first of the Big Three to enter the "intermediate" segment (Rambler had created the class with its basic Rambler, named the Classic after 1961.)
In the 1950s and 1960s, GM wasn't too aggressive about uncovering new market niches, but when it did enter a particular segment, it usually brought out a model that was at or near the top of the class. Since the late 1970s, however, GM has not only been late to the party, but its entries have, too often, been mediocre at best.
Unfortunately, Ford hasn't uncovered any segments, or really set a segment on fire, since the birth of the original Explorer. And it just let its car business wither away after the 1996 Taurus flopped in the market.
This company has been asleep at the switch for far too long.
But if you think about, that corporate bureaucracy is also standing in the way of any solutions.
I think that what Ford failed to recognize was that the car business was not under going a usual cyclical change at the start of the century, but rather a fundamental change.
Ford suffered a failure of imagination as to "what will people want to drive in 5 years". Also, Ford failed to retool itself to react more quickly to the market place with new products, EVEN AFTER the competition already had.
I have faith that the American people STILL have enough affection for Ford that if Ford builds good competitive product, people will buy it.
We have people come into the dealership JUST TO LOOK at a GT500 in person. Old people, young people, kids.
Do you really think people go into a Toyota dealership just to look at a Toyota?
Does anyone really go into a Honda dealer to look at an S2000 just so they can say they did to their friends?
Mark
It would be cool to do a small unscientific survey in your dealership to see how many people who come in to ogle a GT500 actually stay to buy a car.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I'm personally in the "enthusiast" category (for instance, the fact that Ford built and sells the GT matters to me) but most people I know fall into the "appliance" category. :confuse:
Well the Focus was a sales success for a few years in the US before too many recalls dented its reputation. Than Ford just let the Focus age. The car is now what in its 7th year of the same bodystyle? Thats too long to let a car go without redesigning it. I know there will be a refresh for the Focus in 08 I think but that means nothing in my opinion. The 08 refresh will not pump up Focus sales in my opinion in the US. Once the new Nissan Sentra comes out for 07 the Focus will be the oldest car in its segment.
Also as as Ford's car business is concerned the Fusion is selling good. The Mustang is always a good seller even though sales of it have down this year from sales of it last year. Hey thats the way the coupe market is though. Even though people on this thread are saying Ford is asleep at the wheel the 05 Mustang did make GM and Chrysler take notice though. When the 05 Mustang was selling well last year GM decided to give the Camaro a rebirth and Chrysler decided to throw the Challanger concept out there.