mackinaw

75,000 U.S. sales makes sense to me. I'm still not convinced that Americans are going to flock to B-class cars, they're just too small.

Hall prefers the GM model (common platform but different styling and features tailored to a specific market) than the Ford model of using the European-designed product everywhere. At least that's how I interpreted his comments.

Maybe in Europe, but not in America. I'd be surprised if sales topped 100,000 in the U.S. American's, by and large, just like larger vehicles.

This same topic came up a few weeks back. Interesting to note that Automotive News mentioned that Ford only launched the Flex in seven (yes, seven) key metropolitan areas. 10 more regions will have their startup allotment of the Flex by September. Pretty hard to set the world on fire sales-wise if most dealers don't even have the thing.

The article says that the F-100 has been canceled.

This caught my eye too. I wonder what this "whitespace" vehicle is?

Mark Fields was on Autoline Detroit back in May. He was asked about Mercury's future during the interview and answered very carefully, never talking about Mercury in the singular, but always as Lincoln-Mercury in the plural. I took this to mean that Lincoln had a future, and that Mercury perhaps doesn't. You can listen to the interview here and draw your own conclusions: http://www.autolinedetroit.tv/show/1217

From today's Detroit Free Press. Can't say I agree, but here's Merrill Lynch's take on Chrysler's future: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...ESS01/806290538

It's actually 25MPH.

This is from a Detroit News article than ran last week, "Ford has been more cautious than either Toyota or General Motors Corp. saying only that it would be 5 to 10 years before the company offered plug-in vehicles on a mass market basis. GM has said it will bring its Chevy Volt to consumers by the end of 2010, a vehicle that will be able to go 40 miles on electric power." Here's the full article: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...UTO01/806110459

I think you're minimizing the difficulty the auto industry (not just GM) is facing in trying to produce a plug-in hybrid. Even Bob Lutz says that it's starting to look like the first generation Volt will be nearer $40,000 in price than $30,000. See this URL: http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/26/bo...ht-cost-40-000/

I can sort of believe the 2010 time frame, but have a hard time believing that the Volt will cost less than $30,000. One of the Detroit papers, a few weeks back, was suggesting that the Volt would come in above $40,000.

"Mulally told reporters Thursday night that Volvo is not for sale." This is a quote from the 5/23/2008 Detroit News. Read the entire article here: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...D=2008805230375

Probably a bit too harsh. At least regarding pickups, it means we'll go back to the 1960's, which was a time where the only people who bought pickups were those who actually needed them (farmers, construction, etc.).

Not quite. The article in Automotive News says that F-100 is in Ford's "cycle plans," but has not yet been approved.

Very interesting article in today's Detroit News about Ford of Europe. The Author, Neil Winton, quotes several people who touch on several interesting topics. Some european analysts say that Mulally's "One Ford" idea isn't working, that Ford should have sold Volvo when they had the chance, and that FOE recent success isn't as impressive as most folks think: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...362/OPINION0339

Why do we keep forgetting that Volvo had record sales in 2007? http://www.autospectator.com/cars/volvo/00...-sold-worldwide

A valid argument, but I knew going in, that I was investing in a company that was basically controlled by a family. At least to me, that's part of the attraction of owning stock in Ford. In this homogeneous, international corporation world, how many family started-and-controlled companies are still around?

Funny you should post this when you did. I just voted, via proxy, on all of the proposals. Let's just say that Mr. Chevedden won't be happy how I voted.

Interesting read in today's Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...0395/&imw=Y

Maybe no, maybe yes. A recession, in the U.S., is often defined as two consecutive quarters of "negative growth." Problem is we haven't had one quarter of negative growth yet. The U.S,. economy, in the last quarter of 2007 and first quarter of 2008, grew at a 0.6% rate. Hardly gangbusters but better than the negative numbers everybody's been expecting.

Yeah, there is some logic to what you say but remember that 6 billion dollars is a lot of money and something the Quandt family (who own a large amount of the company, somewhat analogous to the Ford family) may not sanction. Also remember that BMWs' history with buying car companies and then running them (Rover) has not always been successful. Whatever, for the time being, I'll take Ford at their word that they are not going to sell Volvo. Maybe I'll feel differently next year.

Lewis Booth, only yesterday, reiterated that Ford has no intention of selling Volvo. See: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../805030340/1148 I do find it interesting that, according to the author, that Ford has recently taken steps to separate Volvo's operations and finances from Ford of Europe.

The Detroit Free Press just picked up the article. Read it here: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...NESS01/80501108

It's begun. I just got a special "news update" from Automotive News that Tracinda's Jerry York says that Mullaly should sell Volvo and dump Mercury. I'm hoping that AutoWeek picks up this article so you can all read it.