Another BONer prediction bites the dust

[range]

lol....I thought the new Escape was going to fail? :lol:

 

I guess we can add this to the long list of failed BONer predictions, along with the infamous BEC "the Edge is gonna flop" prediction.

 

Gosh, these failed predictions are getting to be sooooo predictable.

 

 

=================================================

Ford Seeks To Increase Escape Output Using Overtime Option

 

DETROIT -(Dow Jones)- Ford Motor Co. (F), in response to surging demand for its small sport-utility vehicles, hopes to increase production of the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner and their hybrid counterparts. But rather than add another shift, the company plans to increase overtime work, providing the flexibility to scale back should demand drop off.

 

"We are selling more vehicles than we can build, which is a nice problem to have,"

 

 

LINK

[range]

Failed Escape Prediction:

 

DCK

Jan 26 2007, 08:29 PM Post #7

Group: Blue Oval Members

Posts: 1,222

Joined: 17-July 06

 

 

QUOTE(RichardJensen @ Jan 26 2007, 08:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

puts the Escape where it should be.

 

 

And what is that? Completely uncompetative compared to its competition?

 

I mean really?

 

The people in charge of this disgrace should be shot.

 

============================================

 

Talk about a failed prediciton, here is someone suggesting the 2008 Escape is a "disgrace" and those in charge of its development should be "shot".

[range]

Looks like we have a new winner of the BEC worst prediction award!!!!

 

DCK predicted the 2008 Escape wouild be a "flop" just like BECs prediction that the #1 selling Edge would be a flop. :lol:

 

DCK

Jan 2 2007, 11:20 AM Post #18

 

 

BlueOval Member

Group: Blue Oval Members

Posts: 1,222

Joined: 17-July 06

 

 

 

 

I just can't believe it, but unfortunately it takes years to put out a product and vehicles like the flop that will be the escape were put into motion when ford had a bunch of idiots running the show.....................

Edited November 29, 2007 by range

[LincolnFan]

A BONer prediction? lulz.

 

It's a fact that the negatards (DiCKhead, Vick Hick, PcSario) are a bunch of uneducated people from south USA.

[igor]

A BONer prediction? lulz.

 

It's a fact that the negatards (DiCKhead, Vick Hick, PcSario) are a bunch of uneducated people from south USA.

foot-in-a-mouth-itis ...

 

sorry Lincoln - but that was not nice - people get too worked up over here .. PC like to spike people here, but he does have some valid points - DCK is even less controversial ... and about Mr. Vic .. well I do disagree with him, and seems hell bent to spike people - but that does not make his opinions less valid ..

 

predictions are predictions - I myself am surprised that the Escape trio is selling as well as it does - but if you compare the Escape trio numbers to the Rav4 and CR-V numbers, you will see that Ford is actually losing ground in the segment - the competitors are growing faster, and now Rav4 is poised to match or beat Escape's sales (after CR-V walked away from Ford earlier).

 

Overall the Escape is a nice car, but it needed to be better - the key will be to see the 2009 changes and plans for 2010 and further on ... (the same applies to the Focus).

 

And to bring this all around - people need to stop attacking each other personally - I am guilty myself at times - but we need to tone this down ... it is getting ridiculous.

 

Igor

[sranger]

I admit that the sales of the Escape/Mariner/Tribute are well beyond what I would have expected. I just hope that Ford does not take it's usual "it's good enough approach" and let it get stale. I honestly think this vehicle will be huge hit with a few more ponys and a couple of gears. ( I think thay would have to open another plant... )

 

With high gas prices, the small SUV may well be the next leading market segment...

 

The one thing that makes the Trio so desirable is it's proportions. It is about as small as you can mak a SUV and still have a little "Utility" left in the mix. I drove a 2005 mariner for a couple of years and it had a lot of qualties that I liked.

 

- I liked the looks...

- Nice comfortable interior ( badly needed a telescoping wheel however )

- Handled well.

- Good ride quality.

- Reasonable gas milage with V6 ( I averaged about 21-22mpg with a 50/50 mix of city/hwy ). Another gear or two will really help.

- Plenty of cargo capacity and it was well layed out. The under deck storage was actually significantly larger then the one in my Edge.

- Very easy to manouver in tight parking lots.

- Great overall vision out the front and rear.

 

The only thing I did not like was -

 

- Extream road and wind noise ( New one is better )

- Bad torque steer ( FWD ) ( AWD can solve that )

- Mine did not have side curtian air bags and it was probably not nearly as safe as my Edge.

- Being tall, the steering was always a long reach when I had the seat back far enough to make the legs comfortable.

 

 

The main reason why I think the 2008 has been a hit? Women love them....

Edited November 29, 2007 by sranger

[range]

I wouldn't say someone calling for "The people in charge of this disgrace should be shot. " as 'less controversial.'

[CarShark]

I didn't predict that the Edge would succeed.

 

I didn't predict that the new...ish Escape would succeed.

 

But what boggles my mind the most is that they are BOTH succeeding at the same time! Two four-door five-place CUVs with available 6-cylinder engines from the same brand at around the same price. I thought that somebody would get cannibalized along the way. I mean...just...goodness.

[NickF1011]

I didn't predict that the Edge would succeed.

 

I didn't predict that the new...ish Escape would succeed.

 

But what boggles my mind the most is that they are BOTH succeeding at the same time! Two four-door five-place CUVs with available 6-cylinder engines from the same brand at around the same price. I thought that somebody would get cannibalized along the way. I mean...just...goodness.

 

Seems most of the cannibalization is happening from larger SUV owners trading down as opposed to smaller SUV owners trading up. Explorer sales have taken quite a hit since the Edge came out.

[Michael Reynolds]

A better powertrain and a slightly tweaked interior and the vehicle will be spot on. I too am surprised at how well these things are selling......

[DCK]

It is as if people here do not want Ford to succeed.

 

The Escape is losing Market Share in this ballooning segment, it is bargain bin priced, fleet dumped and the CR-V and RAV 4 Eclipsed it, i don't understand why such fools praise mediocre uncompetitive products.

 

Lets praise Ford for giving up a segment they dominated, they failed to match the CR-V and Rav4's increases, They failed to match their product. It is a flop, it is bargain bin priced, fleet dumped and losing market share. All while the Rav 4 doubled sales and CR-V ballooned past the Escaps sale numbers. The escape is even more pathetic when you take away fleet numbers.

Edited November 29, 2007 by DCK

[NickF1011]

It is as if people here do not want Ford to succeed.

 

The Escape is losing Market Share in this balooning segment, it is bargain bin priced, fleet dumped and the CR-V and RAV 4 Eclipsed it, i don't understand why such fools praise mediocre uncompetitive products.

 

It's not about praising. It's about pointing out the simple fact that Ford's sales of Escapes are UP, despite your bitching and moaning that it would "flop". It's not flopping by ANY standard. I wouldn't exactly call the CR-V's and RAV4's sales "eclipsing" either....."narrowly outdoing a so-so product" would be the way I'd word it.

 

Again, what exactly was expected of Ford for the Escape? Should it have been all-new? What's the justification for it? There's an all-new platform coming in about 2 years. Would Ford have been able to ammortize the costs associated with a more elaborate redesign in such a short timeframe? Unless you're an accountant at Ford, you can't answer that. For the small window Ford was given with the last of the 626-based Escapes, I'd say they did a decent job.

[LincolnFan]

foot-in-a-mouth-itis ...

 

sorry Lincoln - but that was not nice - people get too worked up over here .. PC like to spike people here, but he does have some valid points

 

Yeah, that's why he's the only one whom I didn't edit his name, he actually makes points. SOME of the time however.

 

- DCK is even less controversial

 

He's the sleeper negatard, he just to likes to troll and w/e.

 

... and about Mr. Vic .. well I do disagree with him, and seems hell bent to spike people - but that does not make his opinions less valid ..

 

Never said anything about his opinions, he's just determind to make Ford look the worse of them all, I don't mind that if he was on a site which isn't Ford biased, because that's considered trolling and e-thugness.

 

predictions are predictions - I myself am surprised that the Escape trio is selling as well as it does - but if you compare the Escape trio numbers to the Rav4 and CR-V numbers, you will see that Ford is actually losing ground in the segment - the competitors are growing faster, and now Rav4 is poised to match or beat Escape's sales (after CR-V walked away from Ford earlier).

 

The Rav4 has a hybrid version that sells in volume unlike the Escape Hybrid which is raped by Toyota consuming the supplier's resources.

 

I still believe there's something incredibly wrong with the CR-V sales, they must be dumping it to fleets or something, the I4 is too underpowered, it's ugly as heck, there's just nothing that would attract that much sales.

 

And to bring this all around - people need to stop attacking each other personally - I am guilty myself at times - but we need to tone this down ... it is getting ridiculous.

 

Igor

 

Lol, blame Rick, he's the mod and he keeps attacking PcSario.

[igor]

there is no Rav4 hybrid.

 

Igor

[silvrsvt]

It is as if people here do not want Ford to succeed.

 

Well with the way you post here, it sure as hell doesn't seem like you want them too.

 

You belittle the "yes" crew or whatever you want to call them, but yet you want Ford to do things that are next to impossible to do practically with a reasonable business plan. You label anything that Ford does as just doing good enough, without any explanation on how Ford can do any better with its given resources at this point in time.

 

Its so much easier to point out faults to things then to offer legitimate solutions to those problems. I see what Ford can do practically, but I know they need to do better in the future (which it seems they are), but I'm not going to call them out for every little thing thats beyond their control like other people do on here.

[FordBuyer]

I was looking at the Hybrid numbers on Ford posted in AN and it seems Ford has increased their numbers over last couple years. Through October, Ford had sold about 20,000 Hybrid Escapes/Mariners. So by end of December, that number is projected to be 24,000 Hybrids for year. When Hybrid Escape came out, Ford could only produced about 16,000 of them because of limited battery supplies from Sanyo. Then the next year they got production up to 20,000. And now with Mariner too they are producing about 24,000/year. This number does not include the Tribute Hybrid....so I would estimate Ford is able to get a few more batteries out of Sanyo increasing production up to 26,000/year.

 

It will be interesting to see where Ford is getting the batteries from to produce the Fusion Hybrid. In fact, it will very interesting to compare fuel mileage figures on new Malibu Hybrid with new Fusion Hybrid. The Malibu Hybrid is a mild hybrid with very marginally better fuel mileage. This mild version gets maybe 10% better fuel mileage if that. The Fusion Hybrid should get a minimum of 25% better fuel mileage all around with city mileage being up at least 30%. Ford has mastered the hybrid system and many reviewers say Ford's system is more seamless than Toyota's Synergy system. And so far reliability for Ford's system has been very good.

[Michael Reynolds]

I'd like to see numbers indicating this vehicle is fleet dumped. As far as bargain priced, well considering as much Escapes go for.....I'd be willing to say that it isn't.

 

The Hybrid situation has been a big bonus for Ford. I know of two people that were more then willing to take a look at the Escape Hybrid, that weren't even remotely considering domestic products. The vehicle is proportioned perfectly for a lot of people and the fuel economy is spot on. Problem is you have to fight tooth and nail to get a hold of one. Hell I attempted to get the previous gen, and there weren't any in a 3 state radius.

[silvrsvt]

I'd like to see numbers indicating this vehicle is fleet dumped. As far as bargain priced, well considering as much Escapes go for.....I'd be willing to say that it isn't.

 

I know Ford is pushing them pretty hard on Fleetcentral.com adverts...

 

But for real numbers, I have no idea, but I'd assume they aren't any worse then what they've been in the past, which is about 20-25% IIRC

[FordBuyer]

Well with the way you post here, it sure as hell doesn't seem like you want them too.

 

You belittle the "yes" crew or whatever you want to call them, but yet you want Ford to do things that are next to impossible to do practically with a reasonable business plan. You label anything that Ford does as just doing good enough, without any explanation on how Ford can do any better with its given resources at this point in time.

 

Its so much easier to point out faults to things then to offer legitimate solutions to those problems. I see what Ford can do practically, but I know they need to do better in the future (which it seems they are), but I'm not going to call them out for every little thing thats beyond their control like other people do on here.

 

Good post there. It seems as though there is crowd here that wants Ford to put "phantom" powertrains into reskinned vehicles even if they are not available at time of production. Or I guess they just want Ford to wait another year or two and go with the same dated vehicle and lose more market share. Ford is constantly improving their products and there is much proof of it lately. They are behind in many ways and just beginning to catch up. Where Ford is weakest is engines and fuel mileage, and that is being addressed. A new family of engines are set to be introduced and one is out already. It will take time though and it's coming. What gets me though is some critics on here calling them failures before they even get to production phase.

 

Much of the criticism to me sounds like the old Chevy/Ford wars. Ford could make the best vehicle ever and a Chevy fan would nitpick it to death. Or vice-versa. Like some on here would tell you Malibu is best mid-sized vehicle ever made and Fusion sucks in every way. The Malibu is nice, but isn't best by long shot. As more reviews of Malibu come out, you can start nitpicking it if so inclined. And the full hybrid Fusion will blow by the mild hybrid Malibu. As for me though, I sure hope both the Mailbu and Fusion do well and take back some market share from Camry and Accord. Maybe the new Malibu and 2009 Fusion can get more bodies into Domestic showrooms. If they do that, then they will be a success.

[ANTAUS]

Now just watch, when numbers for fleet sales are released, it'll show 30% for the Escape.

 

I dont think anyone here per se wants to see Ford fail (cept for the AFA lovers on another thread about the boycott), but it's more-so about what could have been a better execution of a product that was in dire need of a more complete redesign that it righteously deserved.

 

It's like giving a statue of a saint, proper lighting and care so it's worshipped appropiately and in this case, the statue just got some dusting, a few flowers, and a few places to put candles at.... And while sales could be higher than expected (and thats great news), it's the notion of reality that it's a lackluster product that might have most on here perturbed knowing that Ford could have done so much better.

 

Yes the Scion sells well, so does the Hyundai and Kia, but seriously, does it make it a superior product than the competition?

[630land]

Yes, 'Mr DiCK', provide proof that the Escape is being 'dumped into fleets'. There were oher fanboys who cried about the drum brakes and 'same greenhouse' who were foaming at the mouth too. Point is it is not flopping, and no 'fake facts' or personal opinions can deny this. And saying things like "...should be shot" is uttlerly classless and juvenile, over a car?

 

Also, the RAV4 has a useless 3rd row seat.

 

Some of these people are the same ones who claimed the the company formerly known as DCX was "the only Detroit car company that knows what is it doing".

Edited November 29, 2007 by 630land

[RichardJensen]

Re: fleet dumping.

 

 

I don't think the previous Ford Motor would add a 3rd shift to dump more product into fleets. I certainly don't think this Ford Motor would do so either.

 

"I have a brilliant idea!!"

 

"What is it?"

 

"Let's increase our cost of production by adding a third shift....."

 

"Mmmm, sounds good so far......."

 

"But wait, here's the best part...... Then we'll decrease our transaction price by selling all the extra production to fleets!!!"

 

"I LOVE IT!!!!! Make that man a VP, and let him fly to Auckland every weekend to buy groceries."

[P71_CrownVic]

It's a fact that the negatards (DiCKhead, Vick Hick, PcSario) are a bunch of uneducated people from south USA.

 

I didn't know Michael Vick cruised these boards.

[Deanh]

Re: fleet dumping.

I don't think the previous Ford Motor would add a 3rd shift to dump more product into fleets. I certainly don't think this Ford Motor would do so either.

 

"I have a brilliant idea!!"

 

"What is it?"

 

"Let's increase our cost of production by adding a third shift....."

 

"Mmmm, sounds good so far......."

 

"But wait, here's the best part...... Then we'll decrease our transaction price by selling all the extra production to fleets!!!"

 

"I LOVE IT!!!!! Make that man a VP, and let him fly to Auckland every weekend to buy groceries."

Auckland is nice this time of year, looking at your Avatar be sure to visit The Loaded Hog ( bar in the Americas cup compound ).....

[silvrsvt]

I dont think anyone here per se wants to see Ford fail (cept for the AFA lovers on another thread about the boycott), but it's more-so about what could have been a better execution of a product that was in dire need of a more complete redesign that it righteously deserved.

 

Biggest problem is that we are still dealing with what Ford was doing 4-5 years ago with product when it comes out now for the most part.

 

I'm sure that in the next 2-3 years, with the product that was developed under the current leadership comes out will be much better...at least hope it will be

 

Its all a matter of getting your ducks in a row