7Mary3

The story I am hearing is the Ecoboost/AWD PI is priced out of the market. Many departments still biased against FWD, but some say the Police Explorer will be a surprise big seller. Highway Patrol type departments looking for traditional type partol units said to be eyeing the Caprice.

No, I think you are pretty much right on. And that was the problem with the GM 4500, since it was built out of medium duty components, it's unladen weight was pretty high. Which gave it a lower payload than the Ford. And, it was an expensive truck. From what I understand, GM's idea now is to let the current 3500HD compete with the Ford 450 and 550. The chassis and front suspension used in the 2011 3500HD cab and chassis is competitive with the Ford 450 and 550, about all GM needs to do is offer the Dana 110 rear axle as an option. The new medium is rumored to be a class 6-7 truck.

I have seen a lot of them on the road in just the last few weeks. They do sort of 'blend in' though. I like the Ecotec engines. We'll see about the whole car.

Wrong! It's actually worse. And things get tighter in 2015.

And yet Mulally was passed over for CEO. As for Ackerson, let's see if he is still there in 3 years. Or 1 for that matter. Many on Wall Street see Ford's debt as a bigger issue than GM's pension liabilities. Not saying I agree with that, but since pension funding is tied to a large degree to the stock market, GM's pensions could be a non-issue should the market recover. That is a big if.......

Still too early to say how GM will turn out. I got a feeling the management team is still in flux, and I really would not at all be surprised if Ackerson is gone within 3 years. For the short term, as long as Ackerson listens to Mark Ruess on product, GM will be OK. Ackerson gets a kick out of making bold statements, and he isn't stupid. I have always enjoyed Delorenzo's column. But correct me if I am wrong, he predicted a whole lot of 'not good' when Mulally showed up at Ford. Mulally is not a 'car guy'. We all know how that turned out. GMC needs to stay if for no other reason that it gives Cadillac and Buick dealers a line of trucks. It doesn't cost much to bring this line of slightly different Chevy clones to market.

http://gmauthority.com/blog/2011/01/general-motors-to-re-enter-medium-duty-truck-segment/ Can't say it comes as too much of a surprise. Good news for Ford medium duty customers, as I doubt Ford will leave the market if GM is in it.

This type of advertising goes over big with a certain demographic. Fact of the matter is the 6.7L Powerstroke needs to be PERFECT. Ford has lost a tremendous amount of credibility with commercial users over the 6.0L and 6.4L. I think the problems with previous Powerstrokes are the main reason for Dodge outselling Ford in class 4 and 5 recently.

I think a lot of fleet customers are going with Dodge/Cummins in class 4/5 because they own Freightliner (and Ford) medium trucks with the same engine.

Wasn't Iaccoca pushing for a 2000 lbs. $2000 car or something like that?

My guess is they are getting enough orders for the PPV they don't need to market a civilian version.

Valid point. I am no Iaccoca fan, but he does admit his culpability in the matter, and he acknowledges that management should be held to a higher moral standard. I am sure that Ford was not the only auto manufacturer to ever have to make a decision on cost over safety. Did Ford knowingly make a dangerous car? No. Could Ford have made the Pinto safer? Yes. Would it have been reasonable for Ford to do so? That's the real question. And it becomes a difficult question to answer if the Pinto was 'as safe' as the average contemporary compact car. BTW- I enjoyed reading Lacey's book. I think it clearly shows who the real hero of the Ford Motor Company was, HF II. It sure wasn't grandpa.

Iaccoca told it like it was. The Pinto was no more dangerous than any similarly sized RWD subcompact available at that time. When GM went through those lawsuits over the side-saddle fuel tanks on 70's-early 80's pickups, I was amazed how similar the situation was to the Pinto.

They should have kept Mercury and axed Lincoln.

Take the SUV's out of those figures. Also, you have 100% of your BMW's on bespoke platforms, and every Benz except the latest ML. In any event, if Lincoln stays with the current product mix, watch where they go. Right off the radar screen, pushed to the corner of the Ford store by the likes of Subaru. I don't want to see that happen.

You have to consider the competetion. Bespoke platforms are almost a requirement where Lincoln wants to go. If Lincoln's sales volume can't support vehicles that are both exclusive and profitable, they might as well give up and direct their market efforts against Buick and Chrysler. Lexus' big advantage is they have a host of mid- and high end cars they sell in Japan as Toyotas, but they sell here as exclusive Lexus models. So, to the U.S. consumer, they are bespoke platforms.

I agree, Lincoln must be earning a higher margin than Cadillac is currently. But, the question is how long will Lincoln be able to do that? I think badge engineering is a road to diminishing returns. Customers eventually will tire of the brand if the perception is Lincoln is a 'nice Ford'. This segment of the market demands product exculsivity. Lexus has it right, the price leader is based on a Toyota, everything above that is exclusive aside from the SUV's. It takes money to make money.

Good progress, but Ford needs a larger part of this growing market. GM's China sales were up 29%, with sales of 2.35 million.

I don't think Lincoln will amount to anything unless a significant proportion of their products are exclusive to the Lincoln brand. Lincoln has in essence become Mercury- a bunch of nice Fords.

Both my local Ford and Lincoln/Mercury stores were owned by the same guy. He basically closed the Lincoln/Mercury store, and put Subaru in the building. He still has a Lincoln franchise, and is selling what few Lincolns he moves in a corner of the Ford showroom. Real classy, but you can't blame him. He is doing very well with Subaru. And my local Cadllac store is doing well too. I am sure they appreciate the 'help' from Lincoln.

Got the latest 'Light And Medium Duty Truck' today. First off, Dodge outsold Ford 67,862 to 65,452 in combined class 3-7 sales for Jan. through Oct.. I'll bet Dodge will beat Ford for the year. Who saw that one coming? I sure didn't. Hopefully the 6.7L Powerstroke will win some sales back. Now for something really strange: A Miami Ford dealer talks of nonexistent medium duty truck inventories, and says Ford is working towards a 60 day inventory of mediums, half of the normal 120 day supply. Ford dealers are resorting to making dealer trades where possible to meet demand. No question most medium duty trucks are built to order, but you really have to question what Ford (or 'Blue Diamond') is trying to do here. How many medium duty sales are being lost to Freightliner and International? Did I just say International? Hmmm.......

Granted, it is very early to make any predictions how this deal is going to pan out, but one thing is for sure- Chrysler employees are a lot happier right now 18 months into Fiat than they were 18 months into Diamler. And I think that is very significant.

O.K., sort of a trick question. Point I am trying to make is these companies are first and foremost medium/heavy truck manufacturers, not car/light truck manufacturers. Yes, Daimler Trucks has the same corporate parent as Mercedes-Benz. but it is operated as a separate entity. Same for Hino and Toyota, Fiat and Iveco. As I remember, the F's and L's were assembled on the same line at KTP, and there was another line for the CL and C series. Hopefully someone can elaborate. To be honest, I would like to see Ford drop the 650 and 750. I think the current products are pretty poor compared to the competition, and I don't think they sell well enough to justify their existance. I would like to see Ford purchase an established medium/heavy truck manufacturer in the future, and run it separate from Ford. I think that would be the best way for Ford to be in the medium/heavy business.

No, not a trick question. Hino and Isuzu are very active in class 8 trucks in other countries (the 30L Isuzu Gigamax in not to be believed, and is the heavy haul tractor of choice in Asia). Fuso is a Daimer operation, and UD now belongs to Volvo.

I can think of one very important commonality between the old F-8000 and the LTL-9000- they were built on the same assembly line. Back in the good old days, emission controls were almost 100% the responsibility of the engine manufacturer. These days, the chassis manufacturer has a significant percentage of the engineering responsibility. DPF and SCR are aftertreatment systems, and are located on the chassis. PCM's have to be fully integrated with the vehicle's electric/electronic arcitecture. 'Plug-and-play' is a thing of the past. I agree that Ford should have stayed focused on vocational rather than over-the-road owner/operator. At the time it was introduced, I thought the HN80 would do a really good job of being 'all things to all people' in class 8, but in the end that dog didn't hunt. Question: Name a truck manufacturer active in class 6 and 7 that is not in class 8.