Embalmers

I believe I am the market demographic for this vehicle, and I really like it. We have an 03 Windstar and 3 kids under the age of 8, so the van does it's job. But, as was the case in the late nineties/early 00's, Ford didn't update their product enough to be competitive. Took us forever to get the drivers side sliding door, then we never did get the folding center seats. Minivan's are all about packaging, and the Windstar was below average in that regard. I like the Flex styling, dads who hate driving minivans won't have a problem driving this car. The motor/trans combo is a winner, and the folding seats/interior layout is fantastic. I just hope they can keep the cost within my reach, otherwise I'll have to rely on year end incentives to meet the budget. Keep it up Ford!!!

There's one point I want to make here. Like many others have posted, the Taurus/Sable has tremendous equity in the name. My mother-in-law (wife of a Ford retiree) normally buys a new Mercury Sable 5 years or so. Her last car, a Sable (She honestly believes Mercury's are better built cars) was purchased in 1999. She has wanted to buy a new car for the past year now, but there is no beloved Sable to purchase. I've told her all about the Milan/Montego but they don't really spark her interest. The new Sable, I guarantee she will buy. Why? It's all about the name. There are literally thousands of potential customers who own a Taurus/Sable they are happy with. When they go into the showroom and want to see the current model, guess what? There isn't one. This name change is just a quick fix for the broken "F" naming system. I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg for Mulally. Oh, don't you guys know that Richard is never wrong?

Can you explain what "DA" marks are? I have a 2007 Mustang GT and the paint is flawless. I washed and claybarred it the week after I took delivery and found almost no flaws at all.

Footballfan: Don't you realize that Mr. Jensen bleeds blue and almost always defends everything FMC does? He knows that the culture prevalent in Ford's upper management is the real reason they are in this predicament. Was it the workers? Suppliers? UAW? No, it was the general consensus that we're doing just fine selling trucks and SUV's and basically letting their car lineup vanish with little or no money invested. I owned a 1997 Thunderbird LX Sport - a Motor Trend car of the year in 1989 - that Ford left virtually unchanged except for powertrain reasons over 8 years. And they wondered why sales fell slowly over those years. But, Ford needed the 4.6L motor to stuff in profit filled trucks, so the Thunderbird/Cougar/MarkVIII was cancelled even though they sold 100,000 units. Pretty typical stuff at Ford - after the 1997 model year they cancelled the Aspire, the Aerostar, the Contour, Escort and the Probe. Unfortunately sometimes Richard thinks a little too much like the execs at Ford that put them in this mess.

Not that I'm complaining, but Richard there's little continuity in this article. One minute I'm reading about the Escape and it's shortcomings, the next minute I'm reading about Bill Ford missing the boat. I'm in full agreement that "Bold Moves" are necessary to convince the general public that Ford is serious about a turnaround and, sadly, drum brakes and carryover powertrain are little indication that is going to happen. Come to think of it, I recently had my 2001 Suburban to the dealership for a 100K checkup and they found the left rear caliper sticking, taking out the rotor. The service manager is a good friend of mine and he told me that they have had numerous issues with the rear discs on the full size trucks/SUV's. So much so, apparently that GM is going back to rear drums in 2008.

I ordered my 2007 Mustang GT August 17. It was manufactured November 10 and delivered to me in Illinois November 24. I ordered from a small dealership with a small allocation and waited until October to get serialized. I did not have any commodity issues as it seems you are having. Good luck!

I think Ford would like to have a system in place so we can track orders. I just don't think it's a top priority. There are orders - basically sold cars - why give the customer more satisfaction when you already have them as a customer. The status quo type of thinking is going to be the downfall of this company.

Steve- Just watched the 3 part series and webchat on the 'net. I think I can be objective here because I have no real ties to FoMoCo - my father-in-law (now deceased) was a retiree. I want Ford to succeed badly. I don't think that the blue-collar employees are to blame for the current state of affairs at Ford. Management at Ford seems to be so bureaucratic it's amazing certain cars have ever seen the light of day. They even admit it in some of the Bold Moves videos. These blue collar employees that have taken offense to your expose are die-hard, blue-blood Ford people. You are hurting them in a personal way by bad mouthing Ford execs. I understand why they feel this way. I also understand why you have to raise certain questions to the execs. I totally agree with you exposing this blatant double-standard of "Tightening the Belt from the top down" and then using the corporate jet excessively. Lord knows what other "perks" the execs are getting. People need to know that what Fields' says and what he means might not be the same. I was somewhat surprised by the amount of negative reaction you got on the webchat. As you heard, people were quite offended by your report and even verbally attacked you for doing your job. That's a shame. Some people were even condoning the personal use of the jet - I'll bet those people have a job to go to tomorrow. The ones who got pushed out see $70,000 in a weekend and think that could be their yearly salary. I believe that talk is overrated. I think Fields (and other top execs) should be paid based on performance. The better off the company is, the better off their bank account is. Show me by example. Next Monday I will take delivery of my new 2007 Mustang GT. I believe if Ford is going to turn the ship around, they need to make product people want. Like the Mustang. Can't make 'em fast enough up there in Flat Rock. Remember the famous quote from Field of Dreams? "If you build it, they will come."

HOLY CRAP! That has to be just about the best post I've ever read. It's almost like you ventured into my brain and pulled it out! I'm waiting on my 2007 Mustang GT and thankfully I have been receiving updates via the ERL. I would be pulling my hair out if I wasn't able to get a small glimpse of my car's status. As a matter of fact, if I didn't find out after 2 months I was still unscheduled, I wouldn't have called my dealership. He had my order switched with one they had coming for inventory, and got it scheduled the next day. This is the information age. GET WITH THE PROGRAM FORD AND GIVE THE CUSTOMERS WHAT THEY WANT! IT'S TIME FOR MORE BOLD MOVES!!!

I know the last MN-12 Thunderbird is in a classic Thunderbird museum.