JM

I never thought about saying GW's name in vain, but now it sounds to funny to pass up! I think Jesus H. Christ & I will now be on better terms...George W. Bush

It was a good episode, kind of makes you feel sad for the guy.

Speak of the devil....Warriors in Pink Bold Moves: Episode 16

I want digital cameras in my car, no mirrors, no windows, just digital cameras and LCDs, this should also make the car extra rigid and safe. Cars definitely need Wi-Fi / Wi-Max capabilities, more and more cities will be offering "free" (supported by ads) wireless services and integrating this into cars would be great. The iPod will eventually have built in wireless capabilities (similar but better than Microsoft's Zune mp3 player) that could stream on this network directly through your car stereos (forget iTrip, it sucks). And Memory Metal body panels (Nitinol / Shape memory alloy) that un-dent themselves! And Nano-Paint! And a Cloak of Invisibility for my car!

While this type of thinking is great from a marketing standpoint, I think it's flawed from the get go. Some facts: - Percentage of households with incomes above $100,000 (17.2% last year) - Overall, men had inflation-adjusted median earnings of $41,400 last year, while the typical woman earned $31,900. That put the female-to-male earnings ratio at 77%, flat compared with a few years ago but up from 60% or so in 1980. - Median income of $46,242 - Mean income of $62,556 WSJ - Incomes Census 8/30/2006 The marketing group is basing their data only on new car buyers, while they should be basing it on the total population, used & new car buyers. Seems like Ford should want to turn used car buyers (which is a larger segment) into new car buyers. Ford needs to come down to reality, it would be much more interesting if Ford created it's phantom people based on Ford Credit data. "Greg has over-extended himself, is in debt up to his eyeballs, and can barely afford gas in his v8 Explorer...."

Ran the Susan G. Komen "Race for the Cure" today and couldn't help but think what was Ford thinking?! Ford has their Warriors in Pink campaign and has partnered with The View to increase awareness of the campaign, but at the race I saw a Fusion, creme Mark LT, solid black (grill and everything) future Expedition, and maybe the next Escape or the current one I didn't pay much attention to it. Why didn't Ford have a Mercury Milan, a Mariner, a Zephyr or any other vehicle besides a manly Mark Lt and a gangster black Expedition? When thousands of women are all wearing pink I would think Ford would have a clue as to what to show them, instead all of the women were oogling a runner's hot pink VW Beetle parked on the side of the street. I remember last year Ford was giving out scarves that were a big hit. But this year I didn't even see Ford reps or a Ford tent, just the 4 lousy vehicle choices.

I came upon this while car shopping a while back, when I asked the salesperson who is buying the most STS's he said WOMEN, and women were buying the majority of CTS's as well. I say, who cares! Who drives the majority of the Escalades out there? Soccer Moms. But when you think of an Escalade you automatically think about rappers, big wheels, and bling. So does that mean soccer moms are buying Escalades because they relate to rappers? No.

They're so low to the ground, they kind of look like a sporty minivan to me. Which isn't a bad thing for minivans, they would make a nice one if the rear had sliding doors.

Precisely my point RJ, does anyone know average loss/profit per model? Seems fairly easy to take net loss/profit & average it by the sells volume, but I haven't seen once in the media how much is being lost per model. I'm sure Ford finance & accounting is on top of this...Per model loss/profit is key.

Can anyone list out Ford's average profit per model? Seems like the emphasis is always on sales volume, but even if you sell the most cars, who cares.... if you're not selling them at a profit!? Leftlane News: Domestic Automakers Losing Money on Every Vehicls

Looks good, I was worried it would only look good in black. Saw it at a car show a while back & the Gator definitely looks better in person. Even though most enthusiasts hate the styling I still think it has a good shot with the public.

Nissan's a parasite, they're just trying to use GM for their own interests, they could care less about how GM benefits from the relationship. I hope Ford doesn't even consider an alliance with them. Seems to me that Nissan is worried about their long-term future.

My bad...I had a rough day at work. I love the LT, even if it is just a chromed out F150, it looks great! Probably the best thing the truck has going for it is that it's a reskinned F150. All of the diehard Ford fans that are used to buying a F150 know that when they buy the LT they are getting the same reliable tough Ford truck but in a more status oriented manner. I've seen plenty of farmers/ranchers driving this truck around & I think that if it looked to far from the F150 they probably wouldn't trust it as much.

Congrats, doing what you like, making money, and driving nice cars...pretty much got it made! I'm doing something similar with my spare time & once revenue is more than my current salary I'll go full-time with it.

Kris, ...if you're talking about this little picture I can barely even see the grill, let alone tell if it has been changed & what is different in the below pic and the pic of the 2006 LT I can't tell, they look the same to me oh & FYI I did read the article before posting how else did I pull the quote For those of us without as keen of eyesight here is a larger pic where you can clearly tell the grill has changed:

This is what worries me, hope they don't put the Expedition's grill on it...

A CTS & CTS-V, what were you doing when you were a teen, selling drugs?

Everyone here has some great ideas & strong opinions about Ford, their products, concepts, and the right Way Forward, but has anyone posted comments or sent emails on the Bold Moves website? By the below response it seems like they are listening... And that question that's been brought up so many times here:

Cadillac's commercials were great, my favorite was Trickle and Diner. I think the Diner commercial is great because it addresses the stigma of Cadillac being an old persons car & especially with their DTS, but Cadillac puts a twist on it saying the car isn't for older people it's for gentlemen. All young professionals want a little class and sophistication & this commercial delivers it. I never watch TV, but use the internet for everything, & still haven't seen the new Navigator ads online plus Lincolns online ad page is weak.

The "notchback" doesn't look bad, but not at all sexy like the iosis (which reminds me of the current 6 series), this car kind of reminds me of a better/bigger focus.

Maybe it's just semantics, but are we talking sales or production (the pdf says production)? And wouldn't they be substantially different?

So everyone loved the Iosis, but this Mondeo is just ok?? Jeeze... Mondeo Iosis If they make it in a wagon, the coupe should look like:

Read a tiny article in the WSJ today saying Bez is making or has made an offer & that Ford is waiting to receive more offers before selling Aston. I'm guessing Ford wants a bidding war between Nasser & Bez.

Here ya go! I know what you really want... I guess I'll do a black one..

Want to save Mercury? Then make the damn Meta One already! No more bland designs, yeah right, this from the company that keeps amazing concepts like the Iosis, Meta One, Super Chief, and probably Reflex out of production.