twintornados

Oh Nick......tsk tsk tsk.....Japans' Accord is NA's Acura....last time I checked, NA is on earth and thus is part of the "world wide" descriptor of the article. It doesn't cost anything to pay attention.

If you are sick of hearing this...skip to the next subject.....how much coverage of the Toyota "sludge engine" problems have you heard of in popular media? None....when I worked as a service manager for a large chain of service repair facilities...it came down to "they are all good when they run, and they are all junk when they break." Fords PSD problems are all over the news ...Honda has a world wide recall of close to 300K vehicles of all types that they make and nothing...not a peep. Last time I rolled past a Honda dealership, accords, civics and fits all are there in the parking lot.......I didn't see any vanos though, so it may be a world wide problem

PS....probably wont see this on any news network.....if it was Ford, GM or Chrysler....it would be all over the news

From Business Week : businessweek.com Honda recalls 298,231 vehicles TOKYO Honda Motor Co. plans to recall 298,231 vehicles across 13 models to repair a manufacturing defect that could stop the cars' engines, the company said Thursday. Japan's No. 2 automaker is recalling the vehicles -- which were manufactured between April and October 2005 -- to fix a defect in the fuel pump relay that could stop the engine and prevent it from restarting, the company said in documents it filed with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Honda said it has received no reports of any accidents or injuries. Accord and Civic passenger cars and Fit and Life minivans are among the models affected, it said. Honda also announced plans to recall 96,061 Vamos minivans to repair an oil feed pipe defect that could cause oil to leak and, in a worst case scenario, spark a fire. The affected vehicles were manufactured between January 2000 and March 2007, the company said, adding that it has received two reports of fires. It was not immediately clear if any vehicles affected by either recall were sold overseas. Phones rang unanswered at Honda Thursday evening.

Man that is cool!!! I want one!!!

If Ford owns the Power Stroke design, then they should take their design on the road and shop it to another manufacturer such as Aisin, Volvo, or one of the many other engine manufacturers that can build this engine to a higher degree of QC than Navistar can muster. Better yet, re-tool one of the plants slated for closure and VIOLA....built in house!

I notice the rearward bench seats are notch cut at the left and right seat back ends...that should help the egress and regress abilities...overall, a nice refresh for a solid work truck...maybe they could add the Transit to the line here and call it the Econoline-Transit for the NA market....Ford sold a lot of econolines...to put it out to pasture with so many sales riding on it would be just plain stupid. But adding the Transit here would definitely make for a solid move...go after the Sprinter with a better idea.

Definately a new bold look, and like alot of new designs...it gets better when you look at at more. I read where the front suspension has new geometry, is that sales speak for "We finally dumped the twin I beam suspension"?...God, I hope so.

Pioneer...trust me...I know management is the main problem of why Ford and other corporations are in such dire straits at this time....but it is corporate greed that will sink those companies coupled with the unfair trading practices of our supposed allies fueled by our fellow Americans desire to get their hands on the cheapest things they could buy. You want a recent comparison? Look at the electronics industry....in the 60's, Zenith execs were compensated at a higher rate than their automotive counterparts....look at the electronics industry today.....NOT ONE SINGLE AMERICAN COMPANY LEFT! Why? "I can get this one for less $$$...and....ehhh, its good enough." We have gone from a society that demands excellence to one that accepts something that is mearly good enough... Console TV's were selling for $698 on up (my dad owned a TV store years ago) in the 60's, 70's and 80's.....then wham....cheap stuff galore pushed by giant chains just to gain market share and now....you can't even find consoles any longer, and look what your $698 can buy you today. But all those American factory workers in the American plants of Zenith, RCA, G/E, Magnavox?? Gone....probably working at a significantly less rate than they were before...but hey....your giant screen TV is so cheap now...you can throw it away when it breaks and go get another one...right? I call it "The Wal-Mart Syndrome"

Pioneer, The costs of health care and pension funding are not limited to the auto industry, the perk your father received was indeed a lavish perk, but those "losses" as you see them were merely written off at tax time as an operations expense, so in reality, it saved Ford some money by doing this. The crisis that our workers are facing is not limited to the automotive world.

I don't want to sound like I am agreeing with Bob Lutz (because I don't) about the rising cost of pension and health care benefits, but any company can save millions but axing a few thousand employees, and that is a long term savings (annualized)...cutting a few overpaid execs is not that big a savings (one time shot) in comparison. It makes it very hard to justify these high compensation packages and they do not play well in the media. He claims a cost disadvantage of up to 2K from foreign competition. Instead of trying to lower benefits and demanding that the costs be borne by the employees....look to leveling the playing field....tarriffs from cars produced in counties that have little or no regulatory controls on their health care or environmental systems need to be implemented.... Every American loves to save a buck and given the opportunity, they will buy the cheapest thing they can get their hands on....they do not think of the long term results of those actions. Other options include looking into the high costs of health care because weather or not these employees continue to work for these automotive manufacturers or get put on the street...someone will have to cover those health care costs and if the person is unemployed, how will they afford even the co-pays? Pensions are sacred and should never be touched, again...here is a case where the companies look at the pension fund as an ATM machine and want to draw the money out of it for their own capitol gain...then complain that they cannot afford to pay the retirees...rubbish. Leave the pensions (the promise they made to a dedicated employee) alone.

Agreed....Ford needs that car in their line up now! What say you fellow blueovalnews-ers.....Fiesta? Festiva? Lets see if Allen can truly move us away from the "F" game and come up with a unique name that doesn't start with an "F" How about Maverick? or Torino? or better yet...since it is still a viable name that eveyone knows...the Escort!

Fellas.....Ford needs to revive the line first...then they can work on "halo" cars like the ones from SVT. if they slap SVT on the flanks of every car line they produce...it would possibly dilute the SVT name...I still liked "SVO" better though.

630Land, You are closer to the truth than you might think....I would be willing to bet that once the cheap labor pools are dried up in Asia.....the middle east countries of Afganistan, Turkey and Iraq will be next...say in 20 years? As for a GM/Chrysler tie up....the only thing Chrysler has to offer of any value is Jeep.....the Chrysler and Dodge brands will most likely be deep sixed after a few years. I wish I could remember a cartoon I saw many years ago....it was doing a parody on the mergers of that time and how the domestic brands would compete against the japanese and predicted a company called "General ChryFord". It was funny then...but who is laughing now?

Another opinion is that when Allen got to Ford and his question was, "Why did we get rid of the Taurus?" it very well may have set in motion the research teams to actually start the string that led to re-naming the re-done Five Hundred the Taurus...I am just glad it wasn't named Taurus II....as for the name Taurus X....well...it seems that American manufacturers are still a little gun shy to admit that most of todays CUV's are in fact the mighty station wagons of years gone by...can Ford lay claim to "CUV Master" like they did when they were the self proclaimed "Wagon Masters"? All I have heard thus far is positive buzz from all the media outlets, so this scheme of Fords' to fire up sales just may work....people absolutely love the Taurus and they want more of it. The Five Hundred was the natural progression of the gen 5 Taurus...but some moron dropped the name because somewhere along the line, we had this, "Name everything with an 'F'." kick....thank god that is over.....c'mon Bronco...I want to embarass my buddy in his Rubicon.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...380/1148/AUTO01 It would seem that the much hailed Toyota Motors has problems of their own...typical of corporate leaders...lets just blame the customer

You sound very bitter about the loss of AAP...I am sorry Atlanta and Ford lost a truly unique work force...but in the end...if you are happier now, that is all that matters....

I hear you there...my mom had a Sable....and now drives a Camry....she cant wait to see what the new Sable looks and drives like...she just may trade the Camry in for a new Sable.....way to go Ford!!!

The names Five Hundred and Freestyle need to be shelved.....Fords' whole strategy of naming all their cars with the a name that starts with the letter "F" needs to be reviewed....I mean, why limit yourself to that. But before anyone starts to want to use other Ford names to replace the current fleets names need to really think...would the Focus really be better served if it was named the Escort? (Or, god forbid...the Pinto?) The next thing you know...there will be a segment to rename a current SUV in the lineup the Edsel...every one thinks it is just a name. but lets face it...a name can make or break a model just as easily as poor engineering can. It is the same reason you will never see Chevrolet name a car the "Corvair" or "Citation"...too much bad publicity for it.

All the storied names that Ford could have used and didn't, some should be re-used, some should never grace the flank of a vehicle ever again. The point of using the name Taurus again is simple...the name is still viable...it is still sitting in alot of peoples driveways, garages, and carports...young people still remember the name as a reliable mode of transportation. Names such as Torino are from a distant past....hey, I loved my Torino...but seriously, if Ford had named the Fusion the Torino...how long would it have been before someone painted a white stripe on a bright red one? The mistake Ford made on that car was getting into a court battle over the name Futura....now they cannot name ANYTHING Futura thanks to a judges order...I mean, who really cared that Pep Boys had the Futura name on a line of tires....now I own a car that shares a name with my razor blade...the money Ford spent on that litigation was truly wasted and someone in the Glass Palace needs to answer for it....The Five Hundred would have been fine if Ford followed through with a solid promotional blitz...but that didn't happen, if you were going to roll out the D3 with a name that never was used before "on its own" (I know, Galaxie 500, LTD 500, Torino 500...etc) you should have made a ad blitz like never before...then Chrysler rolls out with the 300 and wham....the Five Hundred gets slammed as boring. I would think that the name Taurus 500 would have been good...but after pondering it...I realize that the name Five Hundred is "tainted goods" right now, and Ford needs to step away from it. The fiasco of the Freestyle vs Freestar is even worse...so in the end. Allen Mullaly did what he was put there to do.....turn this ship around before it sails off the end of the earth...only time and good sales will tell if he did the right thing...but honestly, he did create alot of buzz and people are going to look at this car that may have never considered it.

All the storied names that Ford could have used and didn't, some should be re-used, some should never grace the flank of a vehicle ever again. The point of using the name Taurus again is simple...the name is still viable...it is still sitting in alot of peoples driveways, garages, and carports...young people still remember the name as a reliable mode of transportation. Names such as Torino are from a distant past....hey, I loved my Torino...but seriously, if Ford had named the Fusion the Torino...how long would it have been before someone painted a white stripe on a bright red one? The mistake Ford made on that car was getting into a court battle over the name Futura....now they cannot name ANYTHING Futura thanks to a judges order...I mean, who really cared that Pep Boys had the Futura name on a line of tires....now I own a car that shares a name with my razor blade...the money Ford spent on that litigation was truly wasted and someone in the Glass Palace needs to answer for it....The Five Hundred would have been fine if Ford followed through with a solid promotional blitz...but that didn't happen, if you were going to roll out the D3 with a name that never was used before "on its own" (I know, Galaxie 500, LTD 500, Torino 500...etc) you should have made a ad blitz like never before...then Chrysler rolls out with the 300 and wham....the Five Hundred gets slammed as boring. I would think that the name Taurus 500 would have been good...but after pondering it...I realize that the name Five Hundred is "tainted goods" right now, and Ford needs to step away from it. The fiasco of the Freestyle vs Freestar is even worse...so in the end. Allen Mullaly did what he was put there to do.....turn this ship around before it sails off the end of the earth...only time and good sales will tell if he did the right thing...but honestly, he did create alot of buzz and people are going to look at this car that may have never considered it.

I am curious as to why? Is the plant in that bad of shape? Is it woefully out of date? Is the workforce too expensive? Taxes too high? It sounds like Ford already cut a deal on the plant and it is being dismantled to make room for the airport...is this true? Could they be doing to it what they did to Rouge...

Well....there is always Atlanta Assembly that I am sure would love to be open and building Taurus' again right along side Chicago Assembly

I am not a Ford employee, but I strongly feel that Atlanta Assembly will be building cars again....if the new Taurus takes off like I think it will....Ford will need more capacity once again...they still own the plant...right?

Actually that may happen seeing as the D3 chassis underpins the Volvo XC90 and that is available with the 4.4 L Yamaha V8, so we know that sucker fits....how 'bout it Ford....the return of the Taurus along with a "Halo" production run of V8 powered units?? That would really put ole Dieter Zetche (spelling?) and the 300 Hemi in check! Does this mean we are closer to the Yamaha V8, AWD, 6 speed MANUAL SHO???? :hyper: That would be a happy day! I would have to bail on my G6 lease early.