Sherminator98

But also keep in mind that all those products are in shrinking markets and no matter what ford would have done to them, it wouldnt stem the loss in sales from them becoming unpopluar or shielding them from the price increases in gas. The Super Duty is execpted from that, since who buys most SD? Contractors who could give less then a fuck bout how they look to a point, they are more concerned about how good it runs and how well it performs. I think Ford was smarter to spend money on what they did vs more bold styling changes since they laided down a great framework to allow the vechicles to age on since they are in a shrinking market and get away with just spending money on styling changes down the road.

I think the biggest problem we have here is the whole "new" Product vs updated products debate. People who are anti-ford believe that nothing short of a major new product like say the Edge, is "new" where as supporters believe that a major update to say the Super Duty qualify as "new"... The both sides have their issues, first off the "new" product thing harks back to the old home run adage where a car manufacture lanuchs a new product and bets the future of the company on it (well at least in the press)..which is what Ford is getting away from On the flipside, the updated products don't have the same punch as a brand new product, mostly due to the press and the American's general infatuation with the latest and greatest with something. Overall I think its the press over hyping things (go figure) and making a mountain out of a mole hill to a point. If Ford can launch new products and the "not-so-newish" cars keep sales flat or countune to grow new sales (which isn't really going to happen in the SUV market with the way gas is) they will be fine. Uh I think it was, but the problem is that both the Fusion and 500 where in the pipe at that time and they are just starting to bear fruit in the past year or two.. Ford was far worse off in 2002 with future development of new products then they are now and in addition the time it takes ford to bring out new product has gone down from 4 years to about 2 years. No matter what they do now, its still going to take 2 years for it to hit the market. I'm sure some projects that are in development now can be pulled up, but they are still at least a year or so out. You can just shit out new product, unless you want a repeat of the T-bird, Escape and Focus launches.

put in some fancy script and you have the Ford blue oval

Well I guess you haven't seen it yourself, but they have. I know that Gas was under $2.50 gallon back in March and now its hovering around 3 bucks a gallon in my neck of the woods now. I spend nearly 250-300 bucks a month in gas just to travel to and from work (rougly 45 miles round trip) and to do errans and see the GF. Between a car payment/insurance and gas...I paid just over $700 bucks for the pleasure of owning a car.

To further add to this the Taurus is a fairly large mid-sized sedan, and its market was split into two with the Fusion on the lower end and the 500 on the upper end. Much like the spilt with the Avalon and Camary.

I think the fusion has the potental to sell at least 120K units alone per year,esp if Ford is looking to keep fleet sales around 15% or so, in comparision to now where 97% of sales are to retail market.

The Fesita sold in the late 1970s and early 1980's was a great car...it was the bridge between the Pinto and Escort, which in its 1982-1985 incaranation left ALOT to be desired. My old Man had a 79 Fesita and my mom got a Escort Wagon in 82, The Wagon couldnt even get out of its own way, where as the Fesita had some get up and go and handled pretty good. My Escort GT from 1986 (hand me down first car from my dad) was nice, but it had serious handling flaws on it. BIG???????????????? Are you smoking something? its smaller then a Focus hatchback :rolleyes:

Doesnt help that I'm a civ working on a Military post either

The only problem with this is that The Sebring and Stratus sedans are already the darlings of the Goverment fleet vechicles. The only time I see a Stratus sedan in my area it has Army TMP plates on it. I've never seen one sold retail except the coupe model.

Ick, but the 1994-98 look so much better then the 99-04 models, except the Specials like the Cobra, Bullett and the Mach1. The GT was a poster boy for Rice with all the crap tacked on it Huh? How in the hell does Toyoda sell over a half million Corollas in the States a year? Maybe half of that

The thing is that if you drop both Mercury and Lincoln, Ford is automatically losing market share that in all likelyhood wouldnt be gained by building Americanized Mazdas or Volvos. The primary reason people buy Mazda or Volvo is because they AREN"T a Ford branded product. The real problem with both Mercury (which has been nothing but rebadged Fords for the past 50 years or so) and Lincoln, is that for the past 5-7 years, they had no true direction to go in. It seems like the management at Ford has finally figured out what they want to do with the brands, which in the case of Mercury is to Appeal to Women and Import Buyers, who want something more then what a similar Ford model offers, or at least think they are getting more. I know when I look at a Milan, I think of a VW Jetta when I see it, which is a good thing IMO. Lincoln is a bit more nebilous to me at least, but from what I read hear they are finally getting their act together and trying to move away from the blue-blood buyer that typically drove the coffin on wheels...a Town Car. Both brands have sufffered worse then Ford because of the lack of product from 2000-2005, when the 500 then Fusion came out. I think Lincoln will do fine and it shouldnt chase Caddy upmarket. If I want a "real" Luxury car, I'd rather get a Jag, since it has more pashe about it then a Lincoln ever would and I'd still be supporting Ford. Volvo isn't a true luxury brand, its more of a premium type product that appeals to yuppies or what not. It doesnt need to compete with BMW or Mecerdes.

I'm sure Ford will offer a package to them if they do open a new plant in the southern US if they decide to go that route. I'm not sure what the deal is with Wanye and how it can be expanded etc...

Didnt the 03 Cobra R have a aluminum 5.4L?

Thats kind of hard do to since the C1 (which the Mazda 3 is on) is a much modified C170 (current US Focus platform Might be getting confused with the B-car that Mazda will most likely providing a platform for.

Well from the Employee board, it seems like CAP has alot of downtime in the next couple months. I'm sure things will improve once the reskinned D3 come out next year and the MkS is added, but its not looking that great at the moment. I think Ford would be wise to abandon most of the fleet sales of the Taraus if they can sell both the D3 and CD3 at both plants capasity and keeping fleet sales under 15% at the same time.

I really think that a T-bird vert wouldnt take any Mustang Sales, provided that it started at 32-35K+, which would be the sweet spot for the T-bird..not too expesive, but its luxurious. Then add in that a Lincoln can be built off the same car and well we have a very good business model for Ford that will make $$$ for them too. Have to figure that Ford could sell about 100-125K of these cars between a T-bird Sedan/convert/Lincoln

What about the difference in MPG between a V8 CV and V6 Taraus? I think that could be a sticking point, besides the car being too "big"

Like I posted on FJ, How is Ford going to be able to put a 15K 5L Cammer engine in the Mustang? Hell the GT500 engine is a lot cheaper! Unless this is part of the Hurricane Family or something...hmmmmmm

WTF are you smoking ? Wow different grills! The GT is around till the end of 2007 And why should Ford worry about 2 cars that will sell only 40K a year? Ever hear of the Miata/MX-5?

Well after looking at your photo, I just had a bit of serendipity here... Everyone is bitching about Ford's lack of a modern RWD sedan Ford has stated that the T-bird would come back in the Future So how does this sound: A new 4 Door T-bird that would replace the Crown Vic thats based on a seriously updated S197 platform that allows IRS and 2 extra doors, but you can still build a live axle Mustang off it and make money? I think we would have a winner....maybe even throw in a 4 door converitible hardtop?? The T-bird name would be an excellent name for a sporty looking Sedan and I dont think Panther Fans would bitch too much either.

Not to be a smart ass, but how does this help with profitability?

It looks like the new 6 speed takes care of the acceleration problems that the old Expy had..hopefully it finds its way into the F-150 too

From what I understand only New York and Mass REQUIRE you to have CARB complaiant equipment. The other States fall under cross boarder sales, where the dealerships order the cars with CARB emissions so they can be sold in those states that require it. If you order a car (like I did) for New Jersey, you dont need to get the CARB emissions equipment.

Thats interesting...I wonder why they are doing that..the CVT was only in production for 2-3 years

:D :bandance: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060730/ap_on_...e/ford_cereal_1