dkosters

Then why are Lexus, Acura, etc. all working on "supercars"?? To increase brand identity and show the company's potential. If you break even on the car you're still way ahead in the game. I agree that buying habits are changing with customer knowledge increasing due to more information being easily obtained. I argued this (unsucessfully) with a Lincoln/Mercury dealer 6 years ago when we bought my wife's Cougar... I agree with point 1....... What's your answer to point 2? Ford's products have been overweight (Edge, GT500) and underpowered (Five Hundred) as of late. That needs to be high on their priority list. This started as an SVT thread, ergo I'm talking about performance. There are many other things: 1. Product cycles--you can't build a car for 10 years and not change anything. Look at the number of products they've done that with--Taurus, Focus, Escape, Mustang, Crown Vic, Town Car, etc, etc, etc. 2. Brand identity--put faux aluminum trim on a car, call it a Mercury M-something, and tada..........flop. 3. Cost cutting--many examples of $2 savings resulting in mega-disasters. And the hard plastic interiors have to go. $40K Ford Explorer Limited with the same hard plastic door panels as a Focus???? 4. Retro-everything. Ruined the Cougar name. Ruined the Thunderbird name. Now they think they can resurrect a rental car name and it will miraculously sell better. 5. Strategy--how do you name a vehicle then kill it a year later (ala Zephr). Pulling CVT's out of the product lineup when you've invested hundreds of millions into the technology. 6. Flex manufacturing--they're late to the game, and it shows. Churning out Mustangs in the same plant for 40 years isn't a good sign. Having one plant 60% idle and another overloaded and you can't do anything about it... There's just a huge list of things, and they're making headway, but the Taurus move just baffles me..... I ordered a Mustang GT/CS this week and they have NO IDEA when it will be built. Based off the net info I looked at, it could be June (maybe??).... All this while thousands of Five Hunde......sorry......Tauruses will be sitting on the lot at fire sale prices.

Bang for the buck--the GT was a phenomenal investment. They got ridiculous amounts of free press in every magazine for years. And you missed the part about the list of bland products they're trying to sell--never said the GT would save them from a long list of other bad product mistakes. It's one piece of the puzzle--Halo products, Performance products, and class-leading vehicles. So, is your solution to circle the wagons, drop SVT, no more halo products, and keep selling the few profitable vehicles you have until your competitors erode your market share to the point that you close the doors?

So just rename the Five Hundred to Taurus and you're all set? Take the Edge--came in dead last in this months Motor Trend. This in a completely new vehicle Ford is pinning a lot of hopes on. Fusion--A step in the right direction, but still just middle of the pack at best. My crystal ball shows it as the rental queen of 2010. :boring: 2008 Escape--drum brakes and the same powertrain since 2000. Need I go on? Ford has 2 products that continue to sell well--the Mustang and the F-150. They own the pony car class today, but in 24 months they will have competition in the Camaro and Challenger. And it looks like Toyota has declared war in the light-duty truck class, so in 5 years they could be eating Ford's lunch. Ford truly needs to make some "Bold Moves" and innovate--create some truly class leading products. Look at the mileage they got out of the Ford GT. Can you believe they created a vehicle with a $150K sticker price and 3 years later they STILL sell for way more? That completely changed a lot of people's minds about what Ford can do. Now that its run is about over, they need a replacement. SVT is a great avenue to "trickle-down" the R&D from the halo cars to the average guy (like the 5.4L in the GT500). I'm really disappointed that the SVT of the late 90's was thrown away, and it doesn't look like they're going to find their way back any time soon.

I disagree--you need to make appealing cars to get people in the door. Many people visit dealerships just to look at the Viper, Corvette, SSR, etc. [note the lack of Ford examples] on the showroom floor, then they end up test driving and buying something else while they are there. Also, the media thrives on speed and horsepower, so people gravitate toward the quicker models, then test drive the base model and find it more than acceptable. Every car magazine hammered on the Five Hundred/Montego for its lack of power, yet I found it fine for everyday driving. I drive an X5 4.4i with 325HP normally and don't even think about acceleration when I drive the Montego (wife's car). But again, people look at numbers and assume they need the 'fastest'.

YES!!! I second that!!