silvrsvt

But how can you get that when better then 90% of the people are still making payments on car thats less then 3 years old? I know I don't go out and buy a car every year

holy 80's flashback...i remember watching her on Night Court :happy feet: :happy feet: Talk about confusing....why would ford dealerships be worried about Lincoln's naming policly when they sell Fords?

Why is the 2008 going to suck like a 2006 model? We dont even know what the final design looks like yet. The biggest problem with the 05 Model was the halfassed restyling and chinzy interior, which according to rumor have been corrected for 2008. People who who buy the Focus aren't going to care what platform its built on, they are going to care about how it looks and feels. The C170 is more then capabile to hold over Ford till the B-cars and C2 come online in 2010 or so. We can argue all day long about what Ford chould of and should of done, but what we have is what we have to deal with and there is nothing that can change that now.

because there isnt enough buyers like this that would make Ford give a rats ass about you. Complaining about it on a internet DG isn't going to solve anything...all your doing is whining

How can a car that is less then 5 years old have the best owner loyalty? What is the Critera for awarding that honor on a car??

Look at what was on the market when the Focus came out in 99 and its competition...uh nothing exciting there. The reason the car sold so well was that it was "different" then what else was out there, YOU cannot base your product on being different from everything else out there year to year. The Focus isn't going to be Scion, it was never intented to be that. When will you get it though your head that cars that cost less then 20K aren't aspirational? They are throw away cars that hold their owners attention for a couple years then they move on to something else "nicer". If anything the Focus ruined Ford's reputation with first time buyers who selected a focus as their first car with all of its recalls and less then stellar relaibitlity. Aspirational products have famous names behind them Like: BMW, Corvette, Mustang, Lexus and the like. Not some POS 15-20K car that the only people who buy it because its the only thing they can afford or they want something with decent gas mileage. Try looking at the market beyond Focaljet 24% for the ZX3 and ZX5 6% for the wagon

Sometimes things crop up? Ford isn't going to purse 250K Hybrids at the expense of bankrupting the company

I got my weight info off Kelly Blue Book, and I was going WTF when I saw the weight of the Ram vs the rest of them. As for the piggness of the F-150, its a well known fact around here that transmission for 1st gear isnt geared properly for the F-150 and the 5.4L Most comparisions show that once you get past 20 mph with the F-150, it runs neck and neck with its competors. It just doesnt have that same kick in the pants feel that the other trucks have...even though it can tow more and has a wider torque band etc....

Since when have the GMT9000 shown any success..the big sales at the start of the year where due to the older models getting blown out at the same time as the new models went on sale.

Anyone make any sense out of this one...its on the bottom of page four: Since when is the 6 speed tranmission a CVT?

The C170 is better for Ford North America at this very moment and the next 2 years till Ford can build a new plant or totally retool Wanye with new equipment and work agreement.

Wow looks pretty hot in black

Biker, The only problem with your survey is that its either take it or leave it, while I wouldn't mind seeing Ford keeping the hatchback around just be able to offer that type of model, but if they kill it off well so be it. The Focus styling has always been an issue since its introduction, more conservative car buyers hated the triangular headlights and everyone in my family (who I try to use as a baseline for your typical car buyer) didn't really care for the styling of the hatchback on the SVT I had. Then the 05 restyle went over like a lead ballon with everyone who had a 00-04 model, futher screwing up things. I personally dont care at all for the newer models, though the EAP front bumper does make a huge difference in the car, making the front end more acceptable to me styling wise.

That could be said of all the SUV's out there also..but they still sell. Its not whats practical or not..its what the consumer wants to pay for. Weight specs of Full-sized pickups, with 4 door cabs: Ram Mega Cab: 6647 lbs. F-150 King Ranch: 5639 Silverado LT:5284 lbs Tundra Double Cab:4965 lbs Titan XE:5134 lbs I'm not sure that the F-150 is a pig or not, or just overdesigned strength-wise Then again people are complaining about how heavy the current Mustang is also, but yet forget how flexible the Fox/Fox4 platform was. Like it or not, the days of a 2500 LB car are long gone, Hell the new Rabbit is right around 3K lbs!

Its the same as the PT Cruise (neon platform) and the HHR (Colbot) is...and its pure BS that Matrix is counted as a Corolla.

Well I'll take the kick in the ass over the Mazda3 (looks too much like an Station wagon to me), but the Matrix falls into the crossover segment like the HHR and PT Crusier and the Aerio and Scions are B-cars. The point is that offering a coupe over a hatchback for the Focus won't mean that the Focus sales will drop 24% automatically, just because they dont offer a hatchback. I haven't met one person says...oh I only buy hatchbacks, since most of them would be hardpressed to tell you what one is.

Why would they kill off Mercury? That would be the same as killing off Lincoln at the same time :rolleyes: Mercury has been a bright spot for Ford lately. Its not like its costing Ford 100's of millions of dollars to come out with Mercury models that look different from their Ford counterparts. I think it would be counterproductive to kill off Mercury. As for the new plant, they already stated that they are going to build a new plant in North America. Where and what is going to be built there is anyones guess, but I would put my money on lean-production plant where the C2 and deverites can be built and money made off it. It would be built in USA to throw a bone to the UAW next fall.

Whats really interesting is that someone posted that worked at STAP the sheetmetal changes made the car look like the 427 concept and they claimed it was a 2008 model...hmm maybe there is some truth to it.

Face it, Up until 6 months to a year ago Ford didn't have a clue as to what to do with the Focus and we are stuck with what choices they made till 2010, when hopefully the new C2 will come to this market. The VAST majority who buy Focus are because they are CHEAP and they can't afford anything else, or they want a Ford Product with good gas mileage. I agree that there isn't anything appealing about this, but its what Ford has to work with till 2010 or so. There's nothing you or I can do to change this and just have to accept it. In no shape or form, the Focus isn't a inspirational car to buy. Yes I did and the primary reason why I got a hatchback was because the SVT name was on it, not because it was a hatchback body style There is a market for Hatches, but not as "car" type hatch. Most "cars" that sell well as a hatchback are marketed not as a car, but as a CUV or SUV type vehicle. I dont see GM offering a hatchback Cobalt, but they do offer a hatchback in the form of the HHR, which sells at a higer MSRP then the Cobalt. I think Ford is missing out in that market. Most cars on the previous list are at best niche models or make up a small proportion of their overall sales, much like the Focus. Another thing, if the hatchback market was so hot, why doesn't the new Civic or any of the Japanese small cars offer a hatchback model?

They are talking about restyling the Panther cars again in 09? Uh I'd hope they either kill them off and replace them by then :rolleyes:

Well Ford better do something about its C car segment...either totally retool Wayne for the C2 and redo the agreement with the UAW so it becomes more cost efficient or build the new plant to replace Wayne. I think Ford would make $$$ doing this then building another Mexican plant on a lower or zero profit B cars, unless they can find some way to make the Bronco off road capable and sell in the high teens/low twenties without incentives.

But due to management in the early 1990's we are left with what we have now...an overdepence on SUVs and a massive loss in sales due to ignoring the car market from the Mid-1990's till recently. Ford will be far better off product-wise in 2008 then they have been in the past 15 years. All depends, I would expect some product to be axed, along the line of products that aren't going to truly needed, such as a Lincoln convertible, A high performance Pickup truck etc etc, but I really doubt that something as important as the B-cars, the C2 plant and car not being followed though with, because Ford would be truly shooting themselves in the foot. As for GM, they are so deep in shit that they can blame all their problems on the devil or something equally as reduculous and still wouldn't be able to raise their stock price. They are a slow moving monolith that is still far from being out of the woods.

Yep the ZX5 is a ZX3 with different and additional doors on it.

But the Explorer is also overkill for most People also. The CUV's can do people moving cheaper (MPG wise) then the Explorer can, which the vast majority of Explorer owners do. I'd venture to guess that less then 30% of Explorer owners do any form of towing with their vehciles. Other then that, what is point of someone buying an Explorer over a CUV? Most people don't care about a V8 option (esp with gas prices and a rumored option on the D3 People mover) and the V6 gets the Explorer around pretty well. I think thats part of the reason why GM is looking at killing off the Trailblazer and all of its devertives...since its new CUVs fill the people moving role and the Tahoe does towing much better then the Trailblazer and people who can afford a Tahoe can afford its gas also.

lets see, Ford is going to automatically lose 24% of Focus sales just because they drop the hatchback? I don't get how dropping one body-style is going to lose nearly 1/4 of total Focus sales. The Coupe will take over that percentage and maybe even grow sales more, since hatchbacks aren't what Americans want (exculding Focaljet) They are as popular as 2 door SUV's, which you can't even get anymore. As for your fleet queen sedan vs retail hatchback sales, I bet the profit margin on them is a wash since you can get a hatchback in the low teens (with incentives), which is how much ford prob sells their rental sedans at. As for the C1 vs C170 arugment...get over it. Ford didnt have a crystal ball as to what would be happening 5-6 years after launching the car, not to mention they would never able to make any $$ off it if they built the C1 at the Wanye plant. Just feel fortantante that Ford has seen the light and we will see the C1's successor sooner then later, with a plan in place that they can make $$$ off of it.