kyle
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Posts posted by kyle
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I'm pretty sure FCA still offers 12 months of XM/Sirius and 3 months is obviously a cost cutting move that most people will not notice. I listen to a handful of XM channels but they do repeat a lot of songs!!!
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That sounds crazy and I've never heard of something like this before-not even like the Audi 5000 problem-which I think turned out to be driver error. At the very least, maybe engage the electric parking brake for safety? All this data is stored in the ECM, in case something ever happened to protect you.
Good Luck-KK
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Man that is a lot of gray!!! Looks like they have one color across the entire dash-besides the cheap orange insert. One color door panel could not look more cheap-hopefully things will change b4 they come out.....
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51 minutes ago, Fordowner said:
Chamblee Georgia Police have a 2020 Explorer doing patrols. They've been using them since Day 1 so they have all 3 versions of the Explorer PIU's on the road.
I will have to keep a look out for them SB on Peachtree Industrial right before 285!!! They are always there....
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Better yet, Ford is offering 0% interest on 7 year loans! If you have to go anywhere near a engine, time for a different vehicle. That alone would cost well over $5k w/labor and on a 2004 not worth it.
Good luck and welcome to the Forumn...LOL....
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Saw this floating over from a buddy of mine....
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23 hours ago, probowler said:
You REALLY don't think it looks a little Jeepish, even from the back?
It's not just a couple of us here, I've read on other forums people who also got jeep vibes too. I won't beat a dead horse but they definitely could have added a little more bronco touch with a proper tailgate and power window... and by incorporating a design element from the newer full-size broncos I think you could have made a really cool fusion and homage to entire Bronco legacy in one vehicle.I see a lot of Wrangler from the back rear, but less so with the front end. I also see some Defender influences, but still think it looks good and should be pretty popular.
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1 hour ago, T-dubz said:
$2000 customer cash + $500 select inventory + $500 bonus cash + $1000 owner loyalty. I checked every major city in Texas and they were all the same.
The rebate money usually varies by Region , I’ve never seen it by state, but it could also pertain to certain trim levels.
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2 hours ago, jcartwright99 said:
If it weren't for Ford, Phoebe Howard Wall wouldn't have anything to write about. I am pretty sure she has milked this story for what it's worth and then some. I am sure it will be plastered on their auto site for the next 3 months.
Well funny how Ford added some warranty coverage after this story was unveiled a few months ago, and as far as I am concerned-Ford fucked themselves on this deal. It is 100% their own fault and customer's paid a price.
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I guess as long as my family and I Am part of the 99% group life will be fine:)
all kidding aside you wonder why major companies are restricting travel and events are being cancelled. These organizations are not dictated by the media but want to make sure they don’t endanger their employees to something that is potentially deadly.
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Nice looking vehicle and know Ford is limited to what they can produce profitably for the US market but think this could slot in nicely below the Escape.
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9 hours ago, rmc523 said:
How dare you? Didn't you get the message that you're supposed to hate it and that it's absolutely horrible because a magazine or two said so?
This is hardly a conquest buyer to say the least. He’s already in the Ford family and his last new car was 7 years ago.
I was down by you last week in Jupiter Florida and saw probably 10 Aviators. I can promise you that the vast majority were conquest buyers likely moving over from a 2-3 year old BMW or Audi-based solely on the democratically of the area.
The Explorer will holds it own with their current owners, but I don’t see a Mazda CX-9’buyer, or any other nameplate selecting this product unless it’s an ST.
What is great though is that the Aviator is definitely grabbing conquest sales and shows what is possible if they really go all in.
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2 hours ago, PREMiERdrum said:
Things have gotten a bit conflated here. What I'm saying is that by the time the consumer actually makes it to a dealership to test drive something, they've already made the purchasing decision in most situations. If any comparison is being done, it is likely between same-make models on the same lot.
30 years ago, test drives were what earned conquest sales. Today, it's marketing, brand awareness, and word of mouth that drive conquest sales. Customers are absolutely less brand loyal than ever, which is why the brands doing well today are the ones who have had consistently good marketing programs in the recent past.
From the dealer's perspective if they've gotten the customer to the lot they've more than likely already made a sale.
yea you are spot on and that makes sense about arriving at dealer with most decisions made.
again general perspective since customers have variables regarding trades and what they qualify for.
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12 minutes ago, PREMiERdrum said:
I'm in a family that is very much directly involved with the industry.
According to them, the vast majority of customers only do comparative test drives of same-make vehicles... like coming to the Ford store to drive an Escape vs. Edge or Explorer vs. Expedition. Automakers - or at least Ford - are doing more meaningful market research than ever to identify exactly what target buyers are looking for in hyper-specific segments and in particular buying patterns. The idea of bouncing from a Honda store to Chevy to Ford to drive Pilots, Traverses, and Explorers is far outside of normal for today's average customer. Thus the brand - of both the maker and the nameplate - are arguably more important now than ever.
The Telluride has a nicer interior than Explorer... mainly noticeable in the rear seating areas. This is surely more expensive... is that cost recuperated? What is the balance of total volume of Telluride/Palisade sales and at what ATP to keep the program profitable?
Ford gambled with the switch back to RWD and a brand new platform, and perhaps they were too conservative in certain interior appointments. However, the decisions weren't made out of laziness or ineptitude... they were made to support a specific business case. And, from all I can tell, even the disastrous launch hasn't impacted the financial expectations of the program.
They are making some very small adjustments to interior materials as a direct response to pre-launch feedback. They're also going to sell at least 200,000 copies in 2020 and make a mint doing it.
I've been in the industry for a long time myself and have to disagree about your part regarding customer's only choosing one brand and want to decide which model they want. Maybe 25 years ago, when brand loyalty meant something but not today. No way. There are way to many good brands out there and customer's want to look at vehicle choices. Maybe in the truck market or the luxury market they may be more brand loyalty, but not in mid-priced segments.
We can go around and around on this but I just don't see it.
Have a neighbor who has had Honda's forever-get's totaled in her Pilot by a cop car who ran thru a light and she was debating going back and getting another Pilot. I suggested she look at the Telluride and her co-worker mentioned the same thing. Not sure if she ever looked at the Kia but she is driving a new Subaru Ascent. I could care less what the ATP is if I'm purchasing a vehicle-I want the best product/price that I can afford and am factoring in safety, quality, dealer network, etc......10 years ago, I would of never considered an Korean nameplate-now you have to be blind not to look at them and make your own decisions. There are way to many great products out there for consumers to choose from.
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2 minutes ago, jpd80 said:
The difference is that none of them are expected to be 20,000/month sellers from get go, the mechanicals in Bronco are mostly shared with Ranger and the other products based around C2, the Escape launched flawlessly by the way.....as did Transit, F250, Kuga in Europe, Territory in China.
While a bad launch can never be completely ruled out, all previous products that have suffered them have gone into be good sellers,
so it's not like bad launches are an indication of a terminally flawed product.
Great point and I don't disagree either but the competitive vehicles are not letting up and Ford is struggling to maintain/grow market share so they have little room for mistakes. Just look to a competitor to see how quickly things can change. Nissan a few years ago was moving along pretty well and now it seems like the company is in chaos and is turning into a major fleet manufacturer.
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On 2/8/2020 at 11:17 AM, akirby said:
Well 1 hasn’t even been shown, 1 isn’t on sale yet and 1 has been the best seller for over 40 years. They are most likely the 3 vehicles a Ford is least likely to fuck up.That's good! Well you are right but 1 year ago you would of had Explorer on the can't fuck up list so my point is there are no guarantees of future success.
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On 2/8/2020 at 1:28 PM, mackinaw said:
Automotive News has a copy of the letter Hinrichs sent his team. Well worth the read. No subscription required. Part of it:
We worked through a very difficult and costly launch of the Explorer and Aviator in Chicago. We then successfully launched Escape/Corsair in Louisville, Transit in Kansas City, Super Duty in Kentucky Truck Plant and OHAP, Puma in Craiova, Territory BEV in Nanchang, and recently Kuga (Valencia) and Escape (Chongqing). The painful lessons learned from the Explorer/Aviator launch will serve the company well in the future – including this year when you will launch so many great new products and really start to introduce the power of connected vehicles with the F-150 and Mustang Mach-E launches.
https://www.autonews.com/executives/hinrichs-goodbye-letter-ford-team-leadership-about-service
What a classy guy and interesting to read the employee's comments about Hackett!!! The easy answer in today's world is to just fire everyone and move on but the reality is that you learn from mistakes and grow into a better manager/company-this one kind of stings for sure and will be interesting to see where he lands!
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19 hours ago, akirby said:
You don’t need or want an engineer making business decisions. You want someone who listens to the engineers and allows them to do their jobs. By all accounts he did that with Bronco and the results are going to be mind blowing.Ultimately Hinrichs had to personally sign off on the Explorer launch plan which turned out to be too aggressive. Either he pushed for the aggressive plan or he didn’t push back on it enough. As President it was his job to manage it.
Not sure you can blame Hinrichs for the Explorer debacle and give Hackett credit on a vehicle that is not even out yet (even though I think the Bronco will be a hit).
No you don't need an engineer at the top spot, nor do you want a bunch of marketing/sales guys at the top. I'm not convinced you broom Hinrich's out the door because the Explorer was a fuck up. If the Explorer was going great, half of the people on this board would be signing the praises of Hackett since his hand prints are all over this vehicle. We don't know who ultimately is to blame and can only speculate, but I as a sales guy want stuff out now, and have the mindset that the engineers will figure it out.
I don't know if there are any current CEO's/Presidents in the automotive world who don't come from an engineering background, but hopefully Hackett is entrenced into the engineers/operations as we hope he is (and I think he is to a certain extent-but think he is by far his own worst enemy by living in a parallel world where no one knows what the fuck the guy is thinking).
Maybe 10 years ago, you could of looked over at the senior leadership of GM and compared to Ford, they definitely felt like they had a short bench. Now, looking at things, the polar opposite is the case-at least to me.
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As a Ford loyalist it is painful to watch this play out and much of this blame should be directed at Bill Ford. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to see the similarities between Ford Motor Company and the Lions-both run by people that by all accounts are in over their head and going in the opposite direction of where they need to be. How the hell do the Lions go 9-7-fire their coach because it was not good enough and then two short years later win 3 games and the coach/GM keeps their jobs. Same story here with Hackett-and while I agree now might not be the time to make changes at the top, if this continues it needs to happen. And the sad part is, Ford's senior management team seems willfully un-prepared and over-matched. I would feel differently if Mark Reuss was on the bench instead of Farley. Hate having the top 2 spots being run by sales/marketing guys instead of someone with a manufacturing/engineering background.
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19 hours ago, rmc523 said:
The jury is out on those 3?
Absolutely! How many have they sold? How's the quality? I can go on and on-these vehicles could be a great success (likely) or more fuck ups. Point being no one can say how well they will do in the market with any certainty or for that matter not do. I just am not going to jump on the bandwagon that since Ford has all these upcoming product launches everything will be "great."
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7 hours ago, akirby said:
When has Toyota or Honda made the number of changes that Ford has made the last 7 or 8 years and are working on now? Since 2010 Ford has introduced 8 new ecoboost engines, 2 new V8 gas engines, at least 2 new diesels and at least 3 new transmissions. Bronco and Ford GT are all new. Hybrid and PHEV Explorer, Aviator, Corsair and Escape. Hybrid and BEV mustang and F150. Not to mention AVs. Baby Bronco and the trucklet. New Lincoln BEV with Rivian platform. 2 new midsized BEV utilities. All while keeping F150 fresh and reintroducing Ranger to NA. 2 new platforms.
Compare that to what Toyota and Honda have done in the same time period and you'll understand why Ford doesn't have as much money or resources to spend on cars and quality. And that's my point - they need to get to that point where all they really need to worry about is product updates and refreshes and a new vehicle here and there. They've bitten off more than they can chew right now. Hopefully the investment in all the new products works out. I think it will. But it's painful to watch.
I don't think this is an accurate comparison since Toyota and to a lesser extent also have a huge global presence and I would be willing to wager, many more vehicle line ups across the board. You may be correct in the US, but I would not think that would stand up if you look at what Toyota is doing globally versus Ford.
Since we are in the NA market-it certainly is painful to watch, but somewhat promising with everything they are getting right with Lincoln. Jury is out on Bronco and F150 and the Mustang Mach E.
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On 2/4/2020 at 8:18 AM, T-dubz said:
The front looks a bit better if you get it in white.
My biggest complaint with the palisade and Hyundai’s in general is the use of random chrome strips everywhere. Get rid of the chrome around the windows and it would look much better.
Well if that is your biggest gripe....lol....
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19 hours ago, akirby said:
Different platform, different factory.
Maybe so but same company is more my point. Glad to see a very positive review by SG and waiting for him to do an Aviator test.
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5 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said:
It's a press vehicle. Wouldn't shock me if some fat-thumbed goofball pushed it too hard.Well it would shock me even less if this is just the way it currently is rolling off the assembly line.......given current history of some un-excusable gaps in quality
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Hank the Third
in Ford Motor Company Discussion Forum
Posted
Most honest post I've read on this site in months....and funniest.