akirby

Yeah, right. That's why they killed Mercury and hired a team of 85 people dedicated to the Lincoln turnaround plan and are trying to reduce the number of dealers and improve the dealership experience for customers and are developing Lincoln exclusive styling and features. This is actually the first time they've had a viable plan for Lincoln that goes beyond a few badge engineered vehicles. I'm not saying whether it will work or not (I think it will but not overnight) - but it certainly won't be for lack of effort this time.

Yep.

What if your family worked for the local TV shop. Or your neighbor. Would you care?

Exactly! If you don't support the local businesses wherever possible then they won't be around when you need them. That's the point. Now expand that to purchasing domestic goods instead of cheaper foreign goods and it's the same reasoning. If bottom line price is the only decision criteria then we're screwed.

I also gave a real world example where I pay more for tennis supplies in order to support my local store and keep them in business. It's to my benefit to have a local store where I can test racquets and get things quickly and get free advice. That is worth paying a few dollars more for me. That's what I'm talking about.

You wouldn't spend a little extra to support your local stores (and therefore support your neighbors and friends)? I don't mean spending double, but are you saying you'd rather buy a Cobra part over the internet for $100 instead of buying it locally for $110? Would you feel different if the local store was owned by a family member or neighbor?

My inside information said it would be backwards compatible. It's just a software change.

I think that having 100% unique sheetmetal including doors, roof and greenhouse and Lincoln exclusive powertrains will go a long way towards fixing that. In the past there simply wasn't enough differentiation. It will take some time to break old habits though.

I didn't mean to imply all imported stuff is cheap or crap - poor wording. What I meant was convince people to buy domestic goods rather than imported goods of equal quality even if the price is a little higher. And I wasn't really referring to vehicles - I was referring to stuff you buy at Wal-Mart, etc.

Competition from another person who opens a fruit stand. If the only choice for local consumers is $8/bushel apples then that's an opportunity for someone else to open a stand selling the same apples for $5. That will force the others to follow suit. Outsourcing is typically done to keep prices from being raised, not to reduce current prices. Or it's done to lower prices to gain a competitive advantage. In neither case does it generate bigger profits that go into the pockets of the corporation. I realize some people think that way but they've never been involved in that scenario and are simply ignorant of how things work in the real world.

Cheap always sells. Drop any vehicle $7K and sales will go up if it's a decent vehicle.

The lack of 100% unique sheetmetal including the greenhouse is what has hurt Lincoln's image. The MKZ and MKX still share door panels and greenhouses with the Fusion and Edge and that's why they continually get compared. That won't be the case with the new Lincolns and they'll get a lot of new Lincoln exclusive features. As long as the styling is drop dead gorgeous (which we hear it is) they'll be fine and after a little while people won't make those comparisons.

And whose fault is that? If the local customers were willing to pay more for locally grown products then there wouldn't be an issue. But most aren't. All they see is the price and the short term impact to their wallet. I go through a lot of tennis strings - probably $300/yr. I could buy a stringer and do it myself for less than $100/yr and the stringer would pay for itself in 2 years. It would be far cheaper and more convenient than taking them to the local tennis store 4-6 times per year. But my local store offers demo programs, free advice, discounted clothing and shoes and other stuff. The manager will do me a favor if I'm in a pinch and they're good people. So I let them string my racquets to support them and help keep them in business. I also buy racquets, shoes and clothing there even though I could get them online and save a few bucks. If more people were willing to pay a little extra to support local and domestic businesses this wouldn't be an issue. Until that happens there isn't a lot that businesses can do about it. They do what they have to do in order to survive.

Nice theory but it hardly ever happens. Why? Because there is always somebody ready to open a new stand, especially if they think the current prices are too high and they can charge a lot less and make money. This is called competition. As long as there isn't a monopoly on the products it works.

Most companies outsource work just to stay competitive, not to reap huge profits. Ford can get away with U.S. production for the Focus because of the higher ATPs and global use of the C platform including multiple U.S. vehicles which keeps the plant busy and costs way down. They can't do that with the Fiesta. The margins are too small and the costs are too high because the volume isn't the same. American companies would much prefer to keep everything in the U.S. but too many consumers have the Wal-Mart mentality of "I want the absolute cheapest price period" so they won't pay extra for domestic products. It's the same as people who buy things from Ebay or mail order instead of supporting their local brick and mortar stores. Pretty soon the brick and mortar stores can't stay in business. Here is an analogy I used previously. I'm buying domestic, locally grown apples for $5/bushel. My competitor down the street does the same. We can compete on even ground. Now my competitor decides to import apples from South America for $3/bushel so he undercuts my prices. What are my choices? Continue buying the $5/bushel apples that only a few people want to buy and go out of business? Or start importing them from South America and drop my prices to compete? That's the reality of business and very few companies are reaping huge profits. Even big oil companies profits are very small as a percentage of their revenue compared to other industries. It's just that their revenue is so huge the profit is a big number. Convince consumers to stop buying cheap crap and the businesses will respond.

It would certainly make it more bearable.

Yes, it is the MFT interface ergonomics that they didn't like.

I don't understand why manual drivers don't understand this. Maybe they do and just don't want to admit it. I had a manual 95 Ranger and got stuck on I-285 in rush hour one day for over 1 hour. It was the epitome of stop-n-go traffice - one car length at a time. After 1 hour my left leg was toast. My next 2 vehicles have been automatics. I might buy another manual if I buy a sporty car since I rarely if ever have to drive in traffic any more. If I get a weekend sporty car it will definitely be a manual. But if I had to drive in traffic every day? No way!

Of course. That's what I meant when I said they would need a funnel to open the filler neck to get the sugar or whatever into the tank. And with the vehicle locked they would not be able to use the one in the trunk.

All you have to do is take the Ford financing and immediately refinance it with your lender at the lower rate. You still get the $500. I've seen where dealers say you have to wait 3 or 6 months before paying off the FMC loan but there is nothing in the paperwork anywhere that states that. I think I waited about 6 weeks when I did mine.

Nope. There are several designs that were flops including the aforementioned five hundred and freestyle. Your problem is you cannot separate what YOU like and want from what the rest of the buying public likes and wants and you can't seem to understand corporate decision making where they have to take into account overall costs and profits and strategic direction. Why can't you just say "I don't like the new design" and leave it at that? That's your opinion and nobody can argue with it. Ford obviously thinks a different styling direction is required based on it being a global vehicle and I believe they know more about the future market direction and their internal financials than you do.

The current Escape is built on a bespoke platform and sells mostly lower end models with $1500 rebates. The new one will share a platform and therefore be cheaper to produce and will likely sell at higher ATPs with little to no rebates - just like the Focus. It's not about what's selling now - you have to look 6 years down the road. Does Ford still want to be selling the same style Escape in 6 years? I doubt it. One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a market leader is to sit back and do nothing. Just ask RIM (Blackberry).

All of the $750 private offers I've seen are X plan eligible. They're not eligible for A, D or Z plan. How did you find out it wasn't eligible?

And maintenance.

Ford won't do that. The Dealer can do it if it's another of their vehicles. Every vehicle that goes down the assembly line belongs to a dealer and they're not going to give one dealer another dealer's vehicle.