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move4ward

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  1. Curiously, all I saw were F150 trucks and Explorers/Edge/Escape SUVs and a few Fiestas and Fusions at the local Ford dealerships in Texas. TAt 1 dealership I did see few Focus sedans. They were eitehr full loaded $$$ models or models with the bare minimum. Either too expensive or not enough amenities. sigh. Inventory shortages can be very specific to a region. According to the conference call, the Focus sales were mostly towards the back end of the month. I have hope that the inventory should catch up by next week.
  2. Ford September 2011 Call Transcript. It's a very long transcript, so I will not post the text here. Please click on the link. In the same link, there is also a Q&A tab with Wall Street analysts that has some additional text. http://seekingalpha.com/article/297303-ford-motor-co-sep-2011-sales-trading-statement-call-oct-03-2011
  3. I read a report that there are increased sales from subprime borrowers who have been unable to get financing since 2008. There has been a drop in repossessions, so lenders increasing their auto portfolio. It's much better for a lender to do auto loans than mortgages, since it is easier to repo a car than to foreclose on a home. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-08-31/news/29949472_1_car-loans-subprime-borrowers-average-credit-scores I expect there to be a lot of pent up demand from consumers that were have been unable to get financing, even though they were still employed for the last 3-4 years. It's great for Ford and the rest of the industry.
  4. Thanks! I loved it. I looked up a clearer clip on their website. NBC.COM- SNL Toyota Prius
  5. $212 million in sales for the Raptor(5300 x$40k). Fantastic!
  6. Many people can't qualify for vehicle financing anymore. As much as 18% of consumers are unemployed or on part time unemployment but want to go full time. You have to look at U-6 rate look at all the marginally unemployed workers. The government reports the U-3 as the official unemployment rate, which does not give the full picture. The government does not count part time workers, discouraged workers(people who quit looking for a job, but still want a job) as part of the U-3 rate. One has to look at the U-6 rate to get true % of people suffering from unemployment and underemployment(part-time, but is looking for a full-time job). Look at the non-seasonally adjusted January 2010 U-6 rate. That's alot of customers that are no longer able to buy new or used vehicles. They will keep driving their existing vehicles, whether they want another car or not. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm
  7. What I am saying is that the dealerships are making their profits almost exclusively from repair work, parts sales, and used car sales and not new car sales. There are higher margin on used cars and that helps off set the losses. However, used sales have gone down every year , since the recession started in late 2007/early 2008. It's still a bloodbath out there. The economys picking up a little bit. Some folks are expecting sales to go back up to 39-40 million cars this year. It's still not close to the good times of 2005-06. http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_01_17.html (in millions) 2006 42.6 2007 41.4 2008 36.5 Note: The post originally said that some folks are expecting sales to go up to $39-40 million in used vehicle sales. I have corrected it to say 39-40 million cars.
  8. Many dealerships that were losing money in 2008 are out of business in 2009. There were 1,605 dealerships of all brands that went out of business last year. Many dealerships that had been open for decades, just disappeared. If those dead dealerships survived 2009, it would have dragged down profits this so-called turnaround. The ones that did survive, are making all their profit from used car sales or parts & service, not from selling new cars. If these dealerships were making so much money selling cars, they would still be around.
  9. Where do you find the retail sales year over year? I only see the press release which shows fleet and retail combined.
  10. There's always a a risk of seizure. Why build any cars in Venezuela, when there are other South American countries that are more business friendly? Is it a requirement that cars must be built in Venezuela to be sold there? I never buy from Citgo. It's not worth the 2-3 pennies/gallon savings. Chavez always try to steal millions of dollars in American innovation or property. It's not a fair trade off.
  11. Labor costs include more than the "take home" pay. Benefits can easily eclipse $400 mil. Ford's biggest labor cost is the pension and healthcare fund. Ford has to pay back $35 billion in debt within 3 years(2013) to the pension and health care fund! That's $34.6 billion more than the salary increase. $35 billion > $400 mil Ford giving $35 billion to UAW is way better than $400 mil.
  12. Ford's days of chasing market share at the expense of profit are gone. Thank goodness for great management! I was about to say the same thing, but you put it so eloquently. If we had a rep sytem, I would give you +1.
  13. The Koenisegg deal fell through on financing. GM is looking for a new buyer. If nobody shows up, GM might kill Saab. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...RlX7w&pos=4
  14. They added strength to the floor in January 2007 because of the test ratings. I don't see what's to stop them from doing it again for the roof. What's good for the bottom is good for the top. http://www.iihs.org/ratings/rating.aspx?id=756
  15. I don't put too much weight in a profitable quarter that was funded by the federal government. Ford made a profit because of Cash for Clunkers that gave them record sales in the 3rd quarter. Otherwise, it would have been another money losing quarter. Losses will be back in the 4th quarter without C4C. They still need to pay back the debt they accumulated to survive during their $14.5 billion losses last year.
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