FordBuyer

I believe Chrysler and Nissan/Infinity have proven that there is market for RWD cars. Not a big market, but a big enough market to make some money. Maybe a growing market although Chrysler 300 sales have plateaued. You certainly cannot put a lot of horsepower to FWD without torque steer raising its ugly head. I have heard that the Impala SS has so much torque steer that it's difficult to keep in straight line when accelerating hard. A modern RWD full sized car from Ford would be awesome. Something without so much wasted exterior space like Chrysler 300 and very modern drivetrain with lots of horsepower and decent traction in slippery conditions. The Panthers don't cut it anymore and need to be replaced soon. I would like to see Ford freshen present Panthers and keep them around in some form until replacements are ready. Ford cannot afford to give up that sales volume until they come out with more new products.

Yep, the Dealers around me have not had any '07 Escapes for months and lots just have the '08 and not many since they sell so fast. Not since the '05 Mustang have I seen so many new units move off lots so quickly. The new Escape/Mariner is selling about as well as Ford could hope for. If you include Mariner sales as I think you should since they are pretty much same vehicle, then they are easily best selling small ute out there bar none. You are talking about 25,000/month, and that is getting close to Corolla/Camry territory. Not quite, but getting there. Its starting to look like maybe Ford can sell every Escape/Mariner they can produce. Nice problem to have for once. And who would of thought Escape/Mariner with same drivetrain could sell like that. With the new Focus getting completely new skin and new interior also with cool features like ambient lighting and Sync, let's keep our fingers crossed and hope new Focus can sell like new Escape with lower incentives. Add in the new Taurus/Taurus/Sable hopefully selling significantly better, then maybe Ford will be making some kind of sales comeback. It will be decent start anyway. Let's hope.

I hope Ford figures it out... They just cannot continue to turn it's back on the Thunderbird legend I hope Ford figures it out too and comes up with something this decade. But I don't think 2 seater is answer even if its breathtaking. First of all, Ford cannot afford low volume specialty car right now. But a four seater Thunderbird that is affordable and could sell in 75,000/year range would be the ticket IMO. It seems to me that the original four seat T-Bird was a good seller and still love to see them at cruises. The four seater would not compete with the Mustang as T-Bird would be able to seat four adults comfortably. It should be fast and very distinctive. Very modern with very subtle T-bird design cues. Very simply, new T-Bird has to have separate segment all to its own and be high volume thus making it profitable. I believe Ford could make good business case for vehicle like this and it would certainly sell on name alone initially and be good seller for years after if its really good.

I would say that a lot of 500 sales that went to fleets are "good" fleet sales. To give you an example: there is small firm next to where I live and they have a staff of maybe 50 who most do a lot of driving. And their vehicle of choice is the 500. The 500 as we know is very roomy, good gas mileage, conservative like many business people like, and most of all a great freeway cruiser. It is one great vehicle for the traveling employe who gets company car or buys their own. I would imagine that Ford loves those kind of fleet sales.....great compliment to the 500/Taurus that conservative business people that use their vehicle for work love the vehicle.

Ford has a very bad habit of dropping vehicle without any replacement for it right away. The previous Sport Trac sold pretty well word of mouth, so what did Ford do. They dropped it and new Sport Trac did not arrive on scene until many months after. I have not seen the numbers, but I don't believe the new Sport Trac has sold as well as the old one. I'm just starting to see a few more on Metro Detroit streets after being out for about a year now. Ford cannot afford to keep dropping vehicles from lineup with no replacement or maybe replacing vehicle year or more down the road. You cannot keep buyers around like that. They just go somewhere else and most likely never come back. I have to believe Ford lost many Sport Trac buyers after having no replacement for many months. If Ford drops Panther lineup with no replacement for years, they will have long road back trying to find those buyers again. The new vehicles will have to be very special in every way to win back buyers who went somewhere else. GM will find that out after they drop the Trailblazer from its lineup with no replacement.

I figured that Ford needs a hit right now other than the F-Series that has been carrying the load too long. The Mustang was certainly a hit, but sales usually fall significantly during winter months. The Explorer used to help carry the load, but those days seem gone even with the Sport Trac. The Fusion looked like the one, but sales have been steady but unspectacular. Ranger sales have skidded down so that vehicle is not going to save Ford. Edge sales look promising, but I doubt if they will be what Fusion sales are and will be as Ford improves Fusion lineup. So that leaves the Escape that has always been strong seller, but was skidding down like Explorer sales not long ago. Last two months Escape sales have been few units short of 20,000/month. Very impressive indeed and Mariner sales are exploding like no other Ford vehicle in quite some time. Kansas City is working overtime and still cannot even approach meeting demand for vehicle in all its forms. Ford Dealers around me are woefully short of much stock as Escape moves off lots quickly. Ditto for Mariner at Lincoln/Mercury Dealers. For example, Bill Brown Ford got big shipment of Escapes recently and already that stock is picked through and not much left. IMO, the Escape/Mariner seems to be the "annoited one" for now after the F-Series for sales volume. Escape/Mariner have quietly become big, big sellers for Ford as E-vans, Focus, and Mustang on a good month are only vehicles in Ford's lineup to approach Escape sales numbers. Count in Mariner sales numbers and F-Series is only vehicle that sells better than Escape/Mariner. If Ford can get the new drivetrian into these hot sellers by next year sometime and increase fuel mileage some more, they could be the hit Ford needs right now. They are the best looking small utes on market and their sales prove it. Sometimes your big hits come from the most unlikely source. And I must believe that Ford is making PROFIT from selling 25,000 Escape/Mariners every month.

IMO, just a few bashers trying to start something. The Taurus X is a better vehicle in every way than Freestyle. However, if you didn't like the Freestyle at all you are not going to like this vehicle either. Simple as that. I wish the bashers on here would just say they don't like the vehicle period instead of picking the vehicle apart with lame arguments. As for the new GM CUV's, they are aguably the best looking CUV's on market and look ever so modern. To me, from afar they look almost mid sized, but when you walk up to them they look as big as Chevy Tahoe. They are massive in size. For a family vehicle, they are great, but for couple or one person they look like overkill they are that big. I could see a single person buying the Edge, but not an Acadia.

When it comes to health of Domestics, I notice that not much has been said by anyone about health of stock market and its affects on health of Domestic pension funds. A few short years ago these pension funds needed massive cash infusions, but now they have big surpluses after run up of stock market last couple years. I heard recently that the top 100 pension funds in America have a surplus of 37 billion dollars after big upturn in financial markets. While health costs are still a massive problem and worsening all the time, pension costs have improved dramatically and are positive instead of negative as they were after 9/11. Maybe the surplus is so great now that Domestics could take some of that money and use it as seed money for health care fund. Hopefully this great stock market can lift the Domestic boats out of the water and give them some hope. Still don't understand why this great news is ignored, since if stock market stagnated pension costs would be ongoing negative story as it was before.

Some of you guys are something else. I'm fussy about cars myself when it comes to paint jobs, fit and finish, and so on. I have seen at least 30 Taurus X's in person, not through photos, and everyone had excellent quality on exterior, and that includes bumpers that match rest of vehicle. I always notice mismatched parts of vehicles as you can usually tell something got repainted. The Taurus X bumpers match as well as Taurus bumpers and I have not heard one reviewer or individual including myself bring mismatched parts up as far as color matching go. Since Taurus/Sable/Taurus X are built at same plant, quality will be near identical between all three including matching bumper color. Since bumper is plastic and rest of vehicle is metal I suppose if sun hits just right there may be slight difference, but I haven't noticed it. I drive a 2002 Taurus and if sun hits just right I have noticed slight color variation as car is 6 years old now and suppose sun oxidized plastic somewhat differently than metal.

On Five Mile Rd. west of Farmingon, I saw a black, undisguised Ford Ecosport being tested with manufacturers plate and test number in front window. It is much like the yellow Ecosport that has been sitting in Livonia Trans parking lot. You could tell this black one was undrgoing real world testing as you could see the test equipment through window. I'm beginning to think something is going on here and this vehicle will be sold here. Anyone with knowledge about this? The vehicle I saw today of course had four doors, smaller than Escape, and looks like its on compact vehicle chassis with Escape looks. It looked like it could be AWD with its high center of gravity. I know Mazda now has compact CUV, maybe Ford is getting one too. The Ecosport certainly looks like small CUV, but not as modern looking as Mazda version. The Ecosport looks like it could get 30mpg on highway with almost as much room as Escape. Ford sure is testing the hell out of this vehicle in Metro Detroit and it was finished production unit, not test mule. It also had big Ford logos front and back.

The state of the housing industry is very worrisome indeed. And the Feds are not helping with their staying the course on interest rates and threats of increasing them. This summer has been very bad for realtors and sellers alike and this winter looks real bad. I live in a desirable community and house sales are at a standstill and the worst I have ever seen. Foreclosures and auctions all over the place. House Depot just issues its warnings today. The Feds are waiting too long to reduce interest rates as we are on edge of recession and their stubborness to reduce them will probably mean one. I doubt if it will be severe recession, but two quarters of negative growth defines one. Last quarter we barely grew and this quarter will probably be negative.

Thanks for all the responses guys. I am hopeful that Ford will turn it around as they always have, but there are a lot of worrisome trends also. In my view, Ford not only has to increase its auto sales and end these double digit declines, but stay away from heavy rebates and money losing fleet sales. I know that they are implementing plans to do this, and have done better that has been reported many times before. My biggest worries for Ford are: Lack of new product and seemingly no sense of urgency to commit to new product Rumors that Ranger, Crown Vic, and Lincoln Town Car will be gone in couple years if not sooner with no replacements and 200,000 sales gone Fact that Ford is running out of time if it is to prosper in environment that will only be tougher Too many Ford Dealerships that will cost Ford billions to close New, much more stringent CAFE rules coming and its affects on trucks and bigger cars Will Ford have the capital to produce innovative, revolutionary products to meet CAFE rules Will dominant Toyota start rebate war like GM did a few years ago and cause everyone to follow suit with disasterous results for much weaker Domestics Will the housing recession continue to get worse and bring down rest of economy My biggest hopes: That Ford will get very competitive UAW agreement that will mean new prouct for plants Ford has and possibly new or refurbished plants that have already been mothballed That the Fusion will continue to become biggest domestic player in mid sized field with 200,000 annual sales and Taurus will be consistent 120,000/year seller That the new Escape can be the second heavy lifter for Ford after F-Series That the new 2009 F-150 will leap frog the competition and be the pickup everyone wants That Ford announces a high profile new vehicle next year like RWD Interceptor that will grow their sales That Ford replaces the Ranger with new small pickup that is very cool and gets segment leading fuel mileage. That Ford brings its new F-150 diesel to market by late next year and announces new hybrids for Edge and Taurus That Ford puts new diesel in its Expedition and Explorer That 2008 is a much better year economically and lifts auto sales so that Ford can get healthier Other new product announcements that are complete surprises and very hopeful

I sincerely hope you are correct, but in the meantime we have to face those dismal sales figures every month of 10% more sales loss.

I can remember the day I picked up my new 2002 Taurus Sept., 2002 at Bill Brown Ford in Livonia, MI. I got there just before closing at 5:30 and there must have been at least half a dozen picking up new Taurus that day. I asked my salesman how many they sold that day as prepped new vehicles were stacked everywhere around dealership. Ah...the good old days!! He told me they sold 20 Tauruses that day alone. I may be off a little, but I believe Ford sold about 33,000 Tauruses that month. and close to 300,000 for the year. Bill Brown Ford used to be one busy dealership almost everyday. Now they have a couple busy days a month and rest of time slow to medium busy. Now can you imagine how busy high volume Toyota dealership is to sell 50,000 Camrys in one month and 35,000 Corollas. With far fewer dealerships than Ford, they must have customers lined up literally to buy their vehicles. They must line up like teenagers for a rock concert. No incentives..no nothing, and they line up like lemmings. I imagine many of them are ex Ford and GM customers. I know the Honda dealer by me is busy as hell on a Saturday night as Metro Detroit Ford Dealers don't even open their door on Saturday unless its far out Suburban one like Varsity in Ann Arbor.

Yep, that sounds about right from the personal reviews I read...at least 50 of them with main theme being disappointing fuel mileage. Many seemed to think 4 cylinder should get upper 20's average as advertised, but were experiencing lower 20's average. I know that Toyota advertised that new Camry would be more powerful and get better gas mileage like they always do, but not the case from what I have read. I assume some of the drivers are their own worse enemy when it comes to fuel mileage because of aggressive driving, but even factoring that in it still seems that the new Camry comes up short. It should mean that Toyota is setting itself up for disappointed customers, but so far if you look at the numbers you would think Camry customers were lined up hours before Dealer opens to smack down $22,000+ for new Camry. My God!!! 50,000 Camrys sold in one month. Unbelievable.

I see that Bob King of the UAW said that Ford only has about two more years of staying out of bankruptcy if sales don't pick up. I was wondering how many on here agree with that assessment. I tend to agree with it. As a Ford stockholder and investor in another Ford investment, my financial adviser has been telling me last two years to get out. I've been stubborn as up to last year of so I just couldn't imagine Ford going bankrupt with Visteon avoiding bankruptcy and Ford having over $20 billion in cash. But after many, many months of reduced sales and this year so far worse than last, I do see a possible bankruptcy ahead. I hate like hell to even bring it up, but it seems to be distinct possiblity. I will always be a Ford customer to the end, but not investor if Ford cannot turn itself around by end of next year. The end of 2008 is as far as I can go without any improvement in sales. I'm sorry, but if no more new products are announced by Jan. of 2008, I don't see any heavy lift new vehicle or vehicles that will significantly increase auto sales for Ford. Ford cannot go on losing 8% to 12% of its sales every month as compared to last year. This just can't go on much longer. And if Ford needs to throw money at cars in order to sell them, then all that does is skew their sales numbers and is meaningless. Every month on here we all look for silver linings in these dismal sales figures, but if you look at big picture it is dismal. A couple lines get increased sales which is always offset by dismal numbers in other lines like Explorer or somewhere else. The overall picture is never good. Both retail and fleet numbers suck. I don't know how many stockholders there are on here ( I suspect a lot), but I'm interested in how many on here are cosidering how much they can take before it's time to pull plug. In other words, what is your time limit on investing in Ford. I'm sure not going to wait for bankruptcy if the worse happens and be stuck like KMart stockholders and investors. I pray to God that Ford will make it, but as of yet I have seen no tangible evidence that they are. I have hope and I do try to hold onto the silver linings in these sales figures, and I will keep on buying Ford products and help others do so as well, but everyone has their limits. And mine is end of 2008 as far as investing in company goes. I know that Ford will really be on the ropes if they lose someone as loyal as me. Let's all hope that doesn't happen, but hope will only take you so far in life. Ford seems to be on right track, but evidence is not complets and those damn sales numbers have to improve significantly SOON.

In my view, GM's biggest error was only dro pping the Olds Division and trying to keep on marketing the remaining divisions. They needed to drop two more divisions, but didn't. I don't know how the hell they think they can market Chevy, GMC, Ponitac, Buick, Saturn, Cadillac, and Hummer and build strong brand identity in today's auto market. If GM could pare itself down to just three divisions, and refocus their marketing efforts on those three, then maybe they could prosper. GM simply doesn't have the capital anymore to keep 7 divisions current and strong in marketplace. I only see Chevy, Cadillac, and one could argue which remaing division survives. I believe GM is suicidal to keep on with all these divisions and the money it will take to keep them with fresh product, and market them effectively. GM is not making enough money to do it IMO.

I checked out Blackwell Ford and they have 7 new Taurus X Limiteds. 6 are FWD pretty much loaded and sticker for $33,000 and EPA mileage is 16 and 24. The remaining one is an AWD Limited with sticker of $35,000 with EPA of 15 and 22. All have power lift gate and moonroofs. No Eddie Baurers. The two nicest colors are the Ice Blue and Light Sage of the ones sitting in lot. Looks like the Taurus X got penalized a little more on new EPA ratings than Taurus. Nice looking CUV's nonetheless. Quality looks outstanding as I checked for fit and finish. Good job CAP.

I find it interesting that Toyota in its advertising touts 40mpg highway for its compact Corolla and only 38mpg highway for its subcompact Yaris. I have also read many personal reviews of the new Camry and their consistent complaint in almost every case is disappointing fuel mileage. Hardly anyone is getting close to EPA ratings, 4 or 6 cylinder. I have often wondered how Toyota gets such optimistic fuel mileage figures out of EPA that no one gets in real world. Me thinks Toyota buyers have to get those figures on sticker out of their head and drop them at least 10% or more. I guess Ford should try some smoke and mirrors too and get 40mpg out of Focus and 36mpg out of Fusion I4 and not worry that customers will not get those numbers as Toyota gets away with it.

Drove down Plymouth Rd. again today and saw two more Taurus X at Bill Brown Ford and on same street saw car carrier at Blackwell Ford with carrier full of the new Taurus X. Looks like they are really coming into Metro Detroit Ford Dealers now. I will have to check out the Eddie Bauer edition.

I have heard that the next Mustang GT will have 350 hp as base V8 engine and V6 Mustang will be closer to 300 hp than 250 hp. Looks like Ford is getting ready for GM, Chrysler competitors. Also sounds like Camaro V8 will use the Corvette engine just like the previous Camaro did before its demise. I'm sure the first year Camaro will sell well as Camaro lovers will be plunking their money down. Second year and after will tell all. Another reason for previous Camaro's demise was high cost of insurance. Guess insurance companies saw it as poor man's Corvette and charged Corvette like premiums. Camaro back then seemed to attract younger crowd with less money. I'm sure many of the new buyers will be baby boomers who buy Harleys and I guess maybe insurance costs won't have same affect as before. I wish GM success on Camaro launch and hope neither Chevy or Mustang suffer from competition...just make the pie bigger and Amercian sport coupes more popular. God knows the Japanese are not capable of building vehicles like it. We know what happened to the Celica and Prelude. Good riddance to both of them.

I'm not bashing Chevy here, only writing down some observations as I hope GM does well and liked their May sales numbers. I hope the new Silverado kicks butt against the Tundra. But I think Chevy has problem with marketing new Camaro with Corvette in lineup. If new Camaro comes with 400hp engine and does 0-60 in Corvette like time, how does Chevy differentiate it from this halo vehicle called Corvette. The Camaro will have to be about same price as Mustang to do well, and why would anyone buy Corvette if they can buy Camaro for half the price and go just as fast. I know Chevy had same problem with last Camaro SS with Corvette V8 in it. Ford does not have this problem in marketing its Mustang. Mustang is very fast vehicle for bargain basement price. If Chevy does same with Camaro, then good luck on selling Corvette. If the new Camaro is seen as "poor man's Corvette," that will be hard image to shake and will hurt sales of Corvette. As for Aveo, what is that car all about? I notice EPA sticker says 34mpg highway..about same as Cobalt and half the size. The Focus gets same fuel mileage highway and not for a lot more money. How can Chevy sell a half pint vehicle with no better mileage than compact and worse in some cases. The new Ford B segment vehicle will probably be twice as nice as Aveo and hopefully better fuel milage by at least 10%. Chevy needs to do better in B segment.

Yep, I don't know why Ford no longer puts E85 emblems on their E85 vehicles anymore like they used to with Taurus and Ranger. The only way you know is to open fuel door. Ridiculous. GM and Chrysler put bold emblems on the back of their E85 vehicles.

Yep, I had a 2005 Focus ZX4 lastears a company car, and though I like the car and it was very relieable, the exterior fit was real bad. You have to wonder if Wayne will in line for new product once Ford finally brings out totally new Focus. Maybe with all the buyouts, they can find managers and workers who care about what comes out of that plant and do better. If not, I think Wayne Assembly will be on future closure list.

Driving down Plymouth Rd. today, I notice brand new 2008 Taurus X sitting on lot with window sticker. I was in hurry so I couldn't stop, but it was there as big as day. So they must be shipping. I only saw one. I imagine sticker said Vehicle Not For Sale, but not sure considering distance from vehicle. I imagine more will be trickling in and many more once Ford reopens from vacation shut down.