mackinaw

If you're ever in Detroit, this place is worth a visit: http://www.tplex.org/ It's the old Model T factory on Piquette Ave,in Detroit, which is now part of the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex. Talk about history, you can even walk through the room where Henry Ford came up with the initial designs for the T.

Sorry, most of the time it is true. Most folks on this list don't have a clue or interest in what happens in the auto industry outside of the U.S. My guess as to this list's demographics? 95% from the U.S., 99% male, 90% white and 70% between ages 25 - 40 . Hardly a representative sample of the world's population.

Basically yes. In 2007, the VW group had about 20% of the European Market while Ford (Ford and PAG) and GM (Opel/Vauxhall, Chevy and Saab) each had about 10.5%.

Good point. You got to realize that this is a very USA-centric forum, whose list members, by and large, have never been outside the continental US. Americans really don't realize how strong and dominant VW is in Europe.

Yes, I suppose it is possible that Ford would try and sell Volvo once the company stabilizes, which, according to some analysts, is probably another 3 - 5 years off; but I wonder if Mulally will even be around by then. Speculation is that he may retire in 2010 when he's 65. If so, the CEO that replaces him may share a totally different view regarding Volvo. Food for thought if anything.

Considering that most of the current Ford Family wasn't even around when Edsel Ford died (1943), I really don't think they care much one way or other.

I can't speak for the mideast, but China (and Russia) have been major growth markets for Volvo the past few years. Sales went from from zero to 35,000 units according to Automotive News.

If you travel overseas much, you quickly see that Lincoln has absolutely no worldwide presence. Right now, it's largely restricted (maybe entirely) to North American. Volvo has a worldwide presence and the name recognition to go with it. I just don't see why should Ford spend billions of dollars cultivating a worldwide Lincoln when they already have Volvo.

Depends on where you see the world market growing in the next ten years. You can make a good argument that Volvo's potential growth in China, Russia, India and others will easily outpace Mercury's potential growth in the U.S.

A very well written article, in the New York Times too nonetheless. Farley looks like the real thing.

In today's market, meaning the era of constantly-rising gas prices, there's absolutely no sense in bringing out an F-100 type of truck unless it would get substantially better gas mileage than the F-150 (or Silverado). I'm talking at least mid-20s' on the highway with a 2WD model and high 20s' would be even better. I doubt that a 7/8ths size F-150 could come anywhere near that.

But you got to wonder what the steadily-rising gas cost will do to small pickup sales. If gas passes the $4.00/gallon mark, and stays there, small pickups may stage a big comeback. For what it's worth, I know that Ranger sales have been up the past few months.

You really expect Toyota, which will probably pass GM as the worlds' largest auto maker this year, to leave Europe? Europe, as a whole, is the world's biggest car/truck market at over 20 million vehicles/year (in comparison, the U.S. will be lucky to hit 15.5 million in 2008). Absolutely no way Toyota is going to walk away from a market that size.

Exactly. I grew up in Dearborn and is was a common sight to see test mules anywhere within a five mile span of the Ford test track. I still see experimental cars, from all manufacturers, traveling down I-75 today, some 200+ miles from the Detroit area. You get used to seeing this stuff if you live in southern Michigan.

Different safety and emission standards account for some of the difference. The front end of Europan cars are also designed to be "pedestrian friendly" while U.S. cars are not. I'm sure there are other "local considerations" too.

From today's Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../804020355/1148

Funny part is that VW expects their world-wide sales to rise from the current 6 million/year to 8 million/year by 2010. I can't imagine any possible scenario where this would happen.

Oh? Simple fact. When Ma and Pop America go out to buy a new car/truck, they look at Consumers Report. They don't look at Car & driver, Motor Trend or any of the other car mags and they're definitely not fanboys who spend their time perusing car forums. That's just the way it is.

I think this should have it's own topic. Maybe this will (temporarily) put to rest the ridiculous Ford-should-sell-Volvo discussion. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../803040472/1361

Being in my mid-50s', I can recall a time when Nascar raced real STOCK cars. I remember seeing a race back in 1964 or 1965, at Atlanta, where the winning car was a Mercury Marauder with a 427 dual-quad engine making 425 HP. I think that Darel Derringer was the driver. I lost interest in current Nascar once Fox took over the broadcasting.

According to Automotive News, Ford sold 373,000 Fiestas' last year in Europe. It's Fords' #2 seller behind the Focus.

Everything you say is true. I imagine several U.S. suppliers (already very weak) would go out of business which would ripple through the all of the U.S. industry hitting Ford and GM the hardest. Most likely Cerberus would cut their losses well before Chrysler went out of business. They'd probably sell the Jeep brand, maybe Dodge truck and ditch the rest. Kathleen Ligocki (recent head of Tower Automotive and ex-Ford exec) figures Cerberus will give Chrysler management three years to turn things around.....or else. See this article in the Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...D=2008802090346

The gist of the article was that since Ford (according to Harley) has no presence (or credibility) in the B-car segment, it has to "build traffic" before the car comes out. On another note, both Mexico and Brazil are in the running to make the Verve. A final decision has yet to be made.

Well, Jim Farley just said the same thing. A very interesting interview with Farley in this week's Automotive News where he said that Ford must persuade customers to consider smaller cars. Another interesting interview was with Chrysler's Jim Press who said the "hemi is not the engine of Chrysler's future." I don't think we fully realize how the new CAFE standards will change U.S. vehicles over the next 10+ years.

Sales of the S80 more than doubled last year in the U.S.