Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 05/17/2020 in Posts

  1. I'm tired of being told I need to live in fear. At this point, if I get it, I get it and if I don't, I don't. It is what it is.
    6 points
  2. I know, but one can hope. To be fair, Edge has been successful, and Fusion was doing great until they saddled it with the mild at best update. So it's not like they don't know how to make something buyers will want. It's just that once they find a formula that works, they let off the gas and then let the thing coast to a stop, and then say "oh buyers don't like it, let's cut it", while failing to see why they don't like it anymore. Much like phones/devices these days, people want the latest and greatest, even with vehicles (especially with leasing), i.e., they want noticeable changes so their neighbor and friends can go "oh you got the NEW one!" The mild update, while it did refine the look and it looked nice, wasn't enough for people to upgrade, as we've discussed. You're probably right about the profit thing. The problem is, while the company saw profits during the Mulally years, we see declining profits as the company has grown even smaller. And while rightsizing/downsizing and streamlining can make you more profitable, you can't keep shrinking and shrinking forever. Buyers will lose confidence in a brand if it's always shrinking and backtracking.
    2 points
  3. Personally I'm fine with the government indoctrination centers shutting down... home school your kids people! The only good thing school does is help socialize your kids so they don't turn out weird, but with some of the crap they're teaching now you'd almost be better off being the awkward homeschool kid
    2 points
  4. It has WOW effect. Sharp truck.
    1 point
  5. You may be right about that. Especially at funerals.
    1 point
  6. I would posit that you contradicted yourself. What is a factory or a school if they aren't "large social and public gatherings"? You are kidding yourself if you don't think the schools will be a shit show - parents routinely send in their elementary kids with snot running noses. The admin and teachers will be put in a terrible situation having to deal with this on a daily basis.
    1 point
  7. County supervisor says San Diego has only had 6 "pure, solely coronavirus deaths" out of 194 listed as such Colorado corrects coronavirus death count method, now 24% fewer fatalities than previously reported
    1 point
  8. The problem with children and younger people isn’t them getting sick it’s them spreading it to others. As for funerals, small gatherings with proper distancing is fine, but at least in the South they usually aren’t small and there is no distancing. That’s what started the huge outbreak in Albany, GA - a 200 person funeral.
    1 point
  9. It's hilarious when articles refers to the F150 being the oldest truck of the three (GM & RAM) and needs a four week break to change over the plants, it's not that kind of generational change.
    1 point
  10. ....you may want to see an ophthalmologist
    1 point
  11. Looks like a "V" and a "W" to me
    1 point
  12. Talk about instant sales killer.
    1 point
  13. I think Ford’s problem the last 20 years is they keep changing course too much. They probably should have just kept CD3 for Fusion and Edge. CD4 barely lasted 7 years. Edge will have 3 platforms within 8 years. Maybe they should have kept the 2.5L NA instead of all those 1.x Ecoboost engines. F150 gets a lot of updates but the basic platform hasn’t changed drastically outside the aluminum body. Just tweaked a little. China was a bust although everybody was wrong about that not just Ford. Maybe instead of trying to fix Europe and South America it’s time to cut bait or start over.
    1 point
  14. They are not necessarily making that much on cars either but they are growing their SUV business and emerging market a lot faster than Ford... which has been looking down at its shoes mumbling to itself since Mulally left. Ford has basically turned in a big goose egg on growing the business since Mulally left in 2013. The China business went to sh!t. Hyundai ate its lunch in India. Toyota and Honda have overtaken Ford in South America. Southeast Asia and Australia has been a mess after the divorce with Mazda with no vision or leadership. For a family controlled business, the obsession with stock price seems really strange... The advantage of family control is so you can invest and grow the business without pressure from Wall Street gadflies. I'm really not sure why they care so much about stock price in the short term. To me, it is much more important to figure out how to sell more SUV, vans, and pickup truck outside the US. Giving up on cars is not necessarily the wrong move... they do have lower returns. But giving up on a market when Ford didn't try to sell the right product is a real sin. There are markets where Ford compete now where it doesn't even sell a van... which is really f'ed up because vans are historically probably Ford's most profitable vehicle. Where ever Toyota is selling Hiace, Hilux and Prado, Ford should be there selling Transit, Ranger, and Everest. There is only about a dozen car companies left outside China and soon some of the Chinese companies will be bigger than Ford. To choose not to compete is really not an option for Ford.
    1 point
  15. Wait guys- I'm confused. Don't you realize that the Koreans and the Japanese are losing their asses on all the cars they are building. A fact- I've been corrected many times when I've pissed and moaned about building great cars and then ignoring them. But just read today, last Fusion goes down the line in July. I've posted before-last new car I bought was a Taurus SHO. Started looking for a CPO SHO in Feb. None in New England then thanks to some BON posters started looking for Fusion Sport and then MKZ 3.0T. Finally found an MKZ. Great car- but never knew this 400HP car even existed. Both gone. Classic Ford- build a good product then let it wither on the vine.
    1 point
  16. The above two posts are actually factual. There are even Ford enthusiasts on this site posting that there is a storm brewing.......
    1 point
  17. And yet it was just announced Tesla's next factory will be in Texas.. https://electrek.co/2020/05/15/tesla-factory-austin-texas/
    1 point
  18. Family ownership keeps Ford an American company for better or worse. If Ford was investor owned like Chrysler, it would have been sold or merged with someone long ago. As for share price and criticism that company lacks real long term strategy, I think the facts speak for themselves. Ford was the number two car company in the world when Bill became President in 1999. It is now number five just barely beating Honda last year having been passed by Toyota, VW, and Hyundai in the last 20 years. And if you consider Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi a single company as some industry analyst do, the pending FCA-PSA merger, and the fact that Ford will fall behind Honda this year, you are looking at Ford being in 8th place - basically the smallest of the full line mass market car company in the world. So in a industry where scale and size means a lot to profit margin, Ford is kind of going the wrong way. How long can Ford stay independent? I don't know but a lot of the challenges Ford is facing now has to do with scale and it would help to be bigger with more cash flow. Before someone makes the inevitable comment about size doesn't equal profit, Ford is shrinking but also not making profit. In fact, you can almost trace Ford's declining profit by declining revenue... Ford has high fixed costs so shrinking doesn't get you prosperity... it begets more poverty. What's most amazing about this industry in the last 20 years is the rise of Hyundai... they went from nobody to the same size as GM (and will probably pass GM in 2020). 2019 Worldwide Sales Volume (millions of units) 1. VW 10.97m 2. Toyota 10.74m 3. Renault Nissan 10.06m 4. FCA-PSA merger pending 7.91m 5. GM 7.72m 6. Hyundai-Kia 7.20m 7. Ford 5.39m 8. Honda 5.17m (Honda is on pace to pass Ford in 2020) 9. Daimler 3.34m 10. Suzuki 3.01m 1999 Worldwide Sales Volume 1. GM 8.41m 2. Ford 6.64m (+ 0.97m for Mazda which Ford controlled + Volvo 0.5m which Ford purchased in 1999 = total 8.11m) 3. Toyota 5.46m 4. Daimler 4.82m (DaimlerChysler days) 5. VW 4.78m 6. Fiat 2.63m 7. PSA 2.52m 8. Nissan 2.46m 9. Honda 2.43m 10. Renault 2.35m ~~~ 13. Hyundai-Kia 1.33m
    1 point
  19. I believe he headed Ford Motor Credit for awhile. Recently, he spearheaded the Campus Martius project in downtown Detroit, and is or was invested in Oakland Pontiac airport. Also connected with Edsel and Henry Ford Mansion projects. I will say this about the Ford family......they are very down to earth and affable. Back in the early 80's, I played doubles tennis with Clay Ford Sr. and he was just one the guys in spite of body guards not very far away. Btw, he was a good tennis player.
    1 point
  20. he was our regional rep for a while....we have never had one anywhere near as good as he was....ALWAYS got back to you in an expedient manner with a definitive answer...our reps since have SUCKED
    1 point
  21. Hank III attended our annual Fabulous Fords Forever car show every year when he was working in California. Very cordial and approachable. I asked him about the Early Bronco that one of our Early Bronco Limited club members restored for his father. He said they still have it and love it, drive it often.
    1 point
  22. I heard the IIHS is working on their newest test - known as the "Banana" test. it measures the impact a pedestrian might have if they slip on a banana peel and hit the car. All vehicles currently get 1 star on it, meaning all cars are now death traps.
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...