jpd80

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)

Roller Rockers Deanh, think 1970s Japanese OHC engines.

China is vital to Ford's future plans, they need to feel they have a strong voice in planning cars for the Chinese and Asian market. Volume products will be made in China for domestic and South East Asian LHD exports while FoA will remain important of RHD markets and niche vehicles.

Advertising? People read and accept all the negative press that Ford GM and Chrysler are in trouble. Like it or not, Mulally standing with the other two has hurt Ford's image with the public. and the press did nothing to set Ford apart from the other two.

Toyota Division passenger cars: 60,017 (-30.8%) Camry and Camry Hybrid:20,782 units Corolla:19,238 units Yaris: 4,440 Prius: 8,121 Toyota light trucks: 42,548 (- 40%) RAV4: 8,034 Tacoma:7,619 Tundra: 7,076 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid: 5,757 Scion:3,923 xB: 1,715 tC: 1,241 units. Lexus: 7,246 (- 37.7%) ES: 2,971 IS: 2,400 LS:904 GS: 898 Lexus light trucks: 7,476 (-21.2%) RX: 6,520 RX 400h: 1,556 TMS posted January sales of 11,876 hybrid vehicles. Toyota Division recorded sales of 10,246 hybrids for the month. Lexus Division reported January sales of 1,630 hybrids.

Hmm, maybe GM are fighting after all. An interesting note, is the G8 managed to sell 1,331 units - not bad for a niche product in hard times. Some other figures: Aveo: 1,595 (5,314 -70.0%) Cobalt: 5,191 (17,310 -70.0%) Corvette: 842 (2,015 -58.2%) Impala: 7,060 (17,544 -59.8%) Malibu: 9,312 (14,541 -36.0%) LaCrosse: 1,489 (4,376 -66.0%) Lucerne: 2,759 (4,840 -43.0%) G5: 767 (1,970 -61.1%) G6: 2,468 (13,942 -82.3%) G8: 1,331 (0 - not sold this time last year) Grand Prix 82 (1,399 -94.1%) Solstice: 304 (858 -64.6%) Vibe: 2,512 (2,338 7.4%)

I hope this trend continues especially for GM, they are a corpse on legs and need to go away.

Australia still remains the regional "Center of Excellence", more design projects will be coming their way.

My God, someone actually bought one...................

Ford needs to start building cars people want to buy, cars that unfortunately attract Toyota buyers and the new Taurus, Mondeo and Euro Focus are a good start. Mondeo looks much better in person and the style grows on you.

Thank you Richard, you must have put some serious hours into finding that info. Much appreciated by all of us interested in the machinations of CARB.

At this point, no one is interested in forking out $5 billion for a a car company that loses Billions.

NASCAR is now a fringe motor sport desperately clinging to the past. Making FWD cars into RWD cars shows how the sport is prepared to bastardize itself to survive.

Lincoln is already in the Middle East and possibly China (?). I doubt the business case for ROW using NA products stands up too well but if Foe and FoA were to use variations of Focus, Mondeo and Falcon maybe that would work better. It's a proposal for better times, maybe in a couple of years.

Fuel cell technology. Surely it's time for auto manufacturers to start making extended range electric cars with fuel cells. The only way to make fuel cells costs viable is through mass production and keeping them small. By doing this, the fuel cell becomes cheaper and a simple top up for a battery electric vehicle.

I agree in that instance, Ford will get the $ 9 billion which will make its total debt about $38 billion. By that time I expect GM's debt will have increased from current $66 Billion to near $80 billion. Even if they did the downsizing thing and the fuel prices stayed low and the Interest rate did the other thing and UAW came on board, the fact is that GM still has huge debts. Short of nationalizing GM or its debt, nothing will save them. I predict that Ford will survive no matter what, I can't say the same for GM or Chrysler.

CAFE is calculated by harmonic mean not arithmetic mean. The calculation works for 0 MPG rated vehicles vehicles but not the way people think.

Selling cars to rental companies is a dead loss, that's why Ford shut Atlanta. Hertz barely made $300 million last year - that should tell you a whole lot right there.