g48150

They won't tax gas, especially when people are getting evicted from their houses. Better to raise property tax, that way all that bailout money for bad mortgages ends up somewhere ...

Anything Chrysler (Jeep, Dodge included) absolutely blows.

Not Bad!

ROFL, the only thing biased about Consumer Reports is that you have to pay $30 a year for the subscription. Honestly, one man's opinion is easy to buy ... I mean ... give.

Not bad, when the Concept 427 became the Fusion, everyone bitched because it wasn't a V8. Everyone bitches about concept cars not becoming production, but that's because they're not supposed to.

I just had this go-around with Hines Park Lincoln Mercury! My stopping distance was like 40 feet!!! Just when it got cold, it wasn't ice or snow or anything, the pads were fine, and so were the rotors. So they charged me $21.43 for a "brake inspection". $10 bucks says that they reprogrammed something or put some "shims" in somewhere.

We'll be lucky if we see $3 gas anytime soon. There's barges in the Persian Gulf that are filling with crude, NOT EVEN MOVING! Communist China and Facist Indian governments will be toppled, who's going to invest in an unstable war zone? I even read that a GM factory in China is shutting down because all their business was GMNA.

Honestly, if the UAW let guys have multiple job "titles" and let anyone fix anything that's busted somewhere in the plant, and not require 2 millwrights to move some heavy equipment, we'd all be in business in the USA. Have two job classifications: Move Heavy Shit, Move Light Shit, nuff said.

What I've owned new: 2001 Explorer Sport Trac 2003 F-150 Lightning 2006 Mercury Moutaineer 2007 Lincoln MKX (my best ride yet)

It really doesn't take a genius to sell Lexus and Toyota, not even Scion has a "perception gap". Although the Accessorizer is horribly misspelled and not even a word, neither is normalcy... GEORGE W. BUSH FTW!!!!! :happy feet:

Ah screw it, sell it to Shelby and have him build cheap Chinese underbodies and slap on the Mustang badge. Now THAT'S how you do it!

This is a pretty easy answer to this question. Imagine you had a deal all worked out where the new hires made <50% of what current employees make. I'll spare the story and cut to the punchline. Dump the current workers and load up on new hires, cash position solved.

I purposely left the Mustang and AAI off that list for one reason. Ford would, in bankruptcy, reorganize around the Mustang brand. After hocking the Blue Oval in the big Citibank loan, they would only have one REAL American Marque (Brand) left, the Mustang. I can think of 3 companies that would love to contract out with the Mustang Motor Company to build vehicles, Magna, Daimler, and Nissan. Look at the past, the first Henry Ford Company became Cadillac Motors, and was eventually bought up by General Motors. Look it up on Wikipedia. The other plants can, will, and are changing to become flex (pun intended) facilities. Ford is in a good position now to shrink and eventually merge/surrender to another automaker, most likely Japanese due to the Blue Oval. UAW contract in hand and Rubin watching over the loan at Citibank, seriously, NOTHING can sink the plans at this point. Chapter 11 would just be a good excuse to take the company private. And as someone pointed out Canada, USA, and Mexico are all on the same continent, NA stands for North America. NAFTA is going to pay off for someone, its just not anyone that builds cars.

Rubin Takes Over Citibank For those of you who do not remember, this is one of the guys that secured Ford's loan and used to sit on the Ford board, along with Ken Leet, for their factories and IP and whatnot. If you think this is coincidence with the UAW tentative contract, you haven't been paying attention. Here comes the drastic resizing that Ford desperately needs, couple this with Alan Mulally's hiring, Bill Ford's stepping out of the way, Anne, Jim, and Cisco out of their positions, Kuzak installed in his, the Ford family's refusal to sell shares or give up Class B status, and now the final two pieces, the UAW contract and Rubin in at Citibank. Think Chrysler's measly 1/3 of headcount is rough? Here comes the big one folks, 1/2 to 3/5 the people being gone. You heard it here first. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Ford needs 3 plants in NA to stay alive: 1. Oakville, Ontario 2. Ford Rouge Plant, Dearborn, MI 3. Hermosillo, Mexico Everything else at this point is extraneous and expendable. Everything. It's all coming together, either this or Chapter 11...

CANADA!!!!!

Personally, if Ford just gave me a $2000 coupon to go to any After-Market shop to get things like a paint job, body kits, radios, or whatever my heart desired and sold me a car for $5000 less, I'd be one happy mother- er. That's how it should be...

There is no way Ford would abandon South America (hey essee) for China. How do I know? South America is the only CONTINENT without Nuclear missiles pointed at it.

Its because they are all the same "guys" that are doing the styling. Look at it this way, Camillo Pardo designed the Ford GT, he's not an auto designer, he's just a regular artist, he's done other auto designs in the past. That's how these upper management 'tards are recruiting talent, like it or not, look for this trend to continue. They look at these peckerhead's resumes and have a gigantic nerdgasm at the very thought of Mr. Artist So-and-So designing a car for them! Why do all the modern cars look the same? Because its the same small pool of talent with spotless resumes that's doing all the designs. You got to remember folks, lowest common denominator, that's how cars are designed. So much for design diversity... :reading:

Because every program runs through the "business office", another name for people that wish they were PMP's, everything gets "marked up" there because of the time that the projects just "sit". Ask real Ford engineers what they think of the "business office" and they'll probably tell you to go yourself.

Guys, Guys, Guys, listen up, I'll give you all a free lesson in Ford's GPDS (Global Product Development System) Powertrain Underbody Upperbody Powertrain = Engine and Trans, some body controls like IC commands, things like that Underbody = Chassis and Safety, things like shocks, active suspension, airbags These are the two things that are going to be global, the shit that NO ONE SEES Upperbody = Stuff you see all the time, Microsoft Sync, Radio, Nav, Mirrors, Door Locks, etc. I figure that 2/3 of your shit is global, is 2/3 less that you have to spend. Nuff said, you, pay me.

Lets see, what was the major thing that "hedge funds" had during the Reagan/Bush the 1st years? Defense Stocks They bombed, but now are rockin' (mainly thanks to Bush the 2nd and the Neo Cons) During Clinton it was: Internet and Technology Stocks They bombed, but now are getting back up to speed During Bush the 2nd it is: REITs and Mortgage Lenders They bombed just now. What do I personally see the "hedge funds" getting into next? Well then answer is in the Land O Lakes (no not Michigan, Minnesota, eh?) There is one thing that is older than most of us, yet we use it every single day without worrying about it, what is this? Interstates and infrastructure. This would be a good investment, and probably cause a major rethinking of how we as a nation get from point A to point B. I mean, look how long they've lasted so far? Tragedy breeds innovation, prepare for "smart roads" and bridges. You didn't think that they were just going to put all these civil engineers out to pasture did you? On the financial side, there's a lot to be said for following the herd.

Well I guess it beats paying blood money to keep the parts supplier in business after a bankruptcy... (This bit of sarcasm is in reference to the GM/Delphi/UAW deal that was recently agreed to)

Will there be punch and pie? Come you guys, you always have punch and pie at meetings. - Eric Cartman

Well, I didn't mean to get on the person's dad, or like I said anyone else who's been taken to task because they came up with something that is obviously over that superior's head. The ONE problem with Ford's culture is the "don't talk out of turn" cadence that they force down your throat, talk to anyone above your immediate supervisor (including HR) and you can kiss your career goodbye... When I was still in there the Way Forward was just starting, it was interesting to see all the different kinds of changes that they wanted to implement, whether the people in charge wanted it at the time is another story. So this is around October of 2005. They had a Ford "Employee Idea" email address and subsequent intranet site that anyone who had a good idea for the company could submit, it was great for the creative types!!! Hell, they even followed up with the ones that looked like "low hanging fruit", ya know, cheap and easy to implement, some even were granted patents!!! :happy feet: Then the ship jumping began, Jim Padilla, Anne Stevens, the CFO guy (I can't recall his name right now), etc. This is also the exact time that Ken Leet got hired in to help "scrutinize the books" and that Robert Rubin from Citibank was deciding to leave the board of directors. Don't worry, this story goes somewhere... Then that AWESOME idea site became known as Ford Global Technologies, LLC, which looked (to us) at the time as a great way to make some money off of the ideas we had all submitted. THAT'S when Bill Ford stepped aside, Mulally was hired, Rubin split, Ken Leet split, and we ended up with the $28 billion mortgage on what else?!?!?!? Ford Global Technologies, LLC and every single NA plant. I suppose the technical term was "pulled out from underneath you", as in the rug was... Currently they'll take your ideas, and even follow up on them, but not for making the company better, its to finance whomever's restructuring plan the Way Forward's was... So yeah, I'm sorry if I'm a little bitter... :shades:

:boring: :blah: How's that Timberlake song go... Cry Me a River? Not taking anything away from your dad or anyone else that's had a "higher up" Ford manager stick in your because they couldn't steal your idea due to the fact they wouldn't be able to explain it but... If Ford was still run on the same principles that Henry Ford built it on, they wouldn't need 60% of the staff that they have, not including the people that actually build the cars :shades: With a company that has a department full of tools "designing" door handles and locks (>15 people) they deserve anything that's coming.