jpd80

It's a good effort and shows Thorax side air bags can be a useful retro fit to some older vehicles. Maybe these upgrades will quell the critics for a couple of years, perhaps the company is doing a stretch for another new vehicle like the global Ranger due in ROW in 2011 CY. Who knows..............

Hey that's some tricky work there, I se what you mean about reducing the amount of free oxygen. I sure hope Ford gets it right and to the market first. avoiding post combustion additives is the key.

Is the government still lending money or starting to give it away? I would see a loan as something to be repaid by people other than the tax payers. I would see a give away as something to be paid by tax payers. Debt is the only thing in this world that reaches out to you from the grave....................

I understand that Richard but it looks like Mr. Bloomberg is putting a different spin on the numbers. I sense the funding for pensions is not in the $4.1 B deficit like the article makes out. I would rather believe Lewis Booth's explaination, have Bloomberg double counted somewhere? Or is it just mischievous manipulation of data?

How can a company reportedly as successful as Toyota go from $16 billion profit in 2007/08 to a predicted $1.7 billion loss 12 months later? Someone is really cooking the books - that's why.

Does anyone know whether or not the draw down is related to the $4 billion shortfall for the VEBA Fund? Has Bloomberg misread Ford's actions?

I was deliberately being cryptic. Ford US is on an evolution journey, an evolution of product and ideology. The once unthinkable and impossible is now real and possible. edit, Not saying FoE has a solution for the diesel NOX problem but it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they did.

I think they were trying the NOX trap and cycling the engine rich occasionally, this creates ammonia to break up the stored NOX. I believe this only works on small diesels where the volume of NOX is small. The whole thing looks very marginal financially, I doubt American consumers would go for expensive diesel with NOX equipment when Ecoboost offers much more performance. Since both types of fuel are much cheaper in the US the scales of economy would show that an expensive diesel option is of little or no benefit to the US consumer.

Yes he did, I have a link to the Ford pdf: HERE Excerpt you are interested in is on pages 22 and 23. In a nutshell, 2009 = 12.5 million vehicles, Ford needs no Government help 2009 = 11.0 million vehicles, Ford will ask for $9 Billion 2009 = 10.5 million vehicles, Ford will ask for $13 billion (layoffs and plant closures)

Sorry for the late reply Rich, I'm sure Ford would have loved to make diesels available but we all know the math doesn't work. How on earth the EU will keep diesels economical when they bring in US styled NOX regs is beyond me. I guess that's why they delayed the whole thing to beyond 2016 (?). Ecoboost looks better and better everytime this "why don't we follow Europe diesels" thread is regurgitated

Here's the official Ford article on the 500 hp race truck:

Nope, John Parker was based in Bangkok, Thailand.

I think he indicated the first six months would be low and recovery later in 2009.

OK, we know it's a special version of the Transit, so maybe that version has a lot of E Series features that will make the E Series equipment suppliers transition much easier.

I believe Euro diesels have particulate filters, the only real question is NOX output. The Euro diesels are one generation behind the USA's tier 2 bin 5 NOX regulations all Ford needs to do is make the NOX work for USA. Surely with a smaller diesel that can be done. Diesel is not a major consideration in the US because no one is looking at it and the implementation is more a feel good then any real savings in fuel economy. They really work better in heavy loaded vehicles.

I'm sure that will be a great help with near 0% interest loans..................

You didn't bother to read the article. This is what the article said:

That's a fair assumption. I think GM's true size is about the same as the new Ford.

GM is quoting 80% drop in fleet sales on their official website. Here it is:

Maybe a personal congratulations letter from Alan Mulally and an unique builder's plate number? They could be a collector's item one day...............

Left and Right hand Drive refers to steering wheel position, LHD = Nth and South America, Europe and Most of Asia RHD = Japan and most former British colonies except Canada and West Indes.

Wow, so all sales were basically retail and just a few business/government fleets. This is the figures at their worst and Ford still has a pretty good retail customer core. I can only imagine what the figures will be like when the economy starts to turn positive. Until then, Ford has to hang tough and hold on through all the "bad" months smiling at GM on life support.

OK thanks Josh, so it is a Left Hand Drive vehicle with a diesel engine, EPA and crash testing but why this model? Could Mercury be getting unique vehicles like the Diesel Mondeo and other FoE Econetics?

Better still, put the engine in a California only Taurus.....................

Anyone read the article? Ford already makes Left Hand Mondeos, so what is a Right hand Drive vehicle doing in Detroit. (Courtesy of TheGMSource.com/Josh E. Oliver)