Tico

Does anyone know did Mully do anything similar when he took over at Boeing? I hope he is simply getting all the bad news out of the way up front and securing financing to get the company through the next product cycle and come up with some real winners. Of course if he fails it's all over for Ford. Only time will tell.

There is nothing wrong with Mercury leaning more towards women as it's market. Many women will only consider an import because of precieved reliability. But now it seems some are "putting Mercury on their list". If Mercury can steal back some of these customers, more power to them. All of us manly men still have plenty to choose from Ford and Lincoln.

Yes and No. I think Ford needs at least 6/60 to make people feel comfortable with quality. Hell if some else offers 10/100 powertrain then Ford should too! But quality is not enough. People buy cars for image as much as quality or safety. My Taurus and Mustang are both 3 model years old. No recalls, no time in the shop except oil changes. Does that mean Ford should have kept building Taurus's and the old Mustang? No! because the designs were out dated and boring. My case in point is the Five Hundred. I would bet they could put a 10/100 warranty on the old 3.0 power train in these cars and not lose money. Trouble is even with a 20/200 warranty no one under 50 wants to drive one of these cars! Ford already should know this lesson from 40 years of Mustangs. The smallest engine sells the best. You pay for the platform with the high MPG average HP powertrain. Then offer a bigger engine as an option. Finally if it can be done at a profit, offer an "SVT" or other specialty version of the car for the gear heads / rich boy racers / middle aged dads who can finally afford the "hot rod" they never had. Chevy does this with the "SS" trim levels.

Maybe partly true, but I think Potiac and Buick will get some surprises in the next 3 years too. The point of the story is you'd rather be in GMs postion than Ford or DCX. Think about it. Which showroom you wanna be shopping in come summer of 2009?

I was at the dealer ship last month having some service done on my car and I thought to myself, there is nothing in this show room that looks interesting! (Aside from the Mustang and Fusion of course). Ford can not survive on only two sucessful cars! They need to fix the focus and 500 fast and get the Edge into the show room. Put aside your Ford loyalties for a minute and think, there would be a lot more to look at in a MOPAR or GM showroom this month. Where would you want to go "Window Shopping". Come on, be honest....

My AMC Rambler went almost 200K. My '78 Nova went close to 200K also. My junky Mopars ony went about 120K each. Verdict still out on my Fords. So I guess they were all better than KIA's. I know, In know in this age of leases what self respecting yuppie keeps his cars after the 36 month lease is up anyway. I still think you do no belong on this web site Mr. Ovaltine. Is there not a kiarules.com? Perphaps you should start one.

I really don't think "non car people" look at the seal around the window or for a locking gas cap. My brother in law drives Toyota because he thinks they are reliable. He knows nothing about cars but how to pump gas and turn the key. Image, quality and Marketing sell cars to these 2,000,000+ Toyota and Honda buyers every year, not the window seals. Next time grab some guy in a Camary and ask him to look at the Fusion. I bet he won't comment on Window seals. Just looks and the fact that he does not trust the domestics quality or relibility. If you drove Plymouths and now KIAs why are you on this forum? Why call your self "ovaltine". You own a ford? Bye the way what kinda plymouth. I had a '92 Sundance Duster that went 130K before I sold it.

check www.kbb.com for what you asking price should be. If you need to sell it quick expect to get less that than kelly blue book says. You will have an easier time selling in the spring (when ever it gets warm) as people don't buy used Mustangs in January in the Midwest. Also people get tax returns in March / April and go often put that money towards a used car. Good luck.

Dispite it's "love it or hate it" styling I see the 300 continues to out sell the 500 in December.

For beating back and forth 25 miles each way to work my '04 SES is perfect. Why spend a lot more for a car just to kill it going to work. Mabye I will try a fusion in 5 or 6 years with the Taurus reaches 150,000 miles.