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"Trouble Prone Toyota" Advances To #2 U.S. Sales Spot


RJ Kanary

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What Ford has gone through in the last 20 years should be studied at the Harvard School of Business as an example of how not to run a corporation.

 

I feel that it is almost 20 years, because IMHO, Ford's present-day problem started in the late 80's, when the European/UK division went into the toilet. Finally, that problem has apparently been attended to, and Ford is starting a long, slow come-back in market-share.

 

Now Ford US is paying for a decade of Explorer-dependency in a market that's stagnant for the next 24 months, with a lot of high-grade players who don't have the financial 'legacy' problems that Ford has dealt with. Kudos to Bill Ford for grabbing that problem; otherwise, the Mull probably wouldn't be here. But because the legacy problem was put to rest, the Mull came to a company that could concentrate on the future.

 

It's early days yet, but the recent decision of GM to shelve a North Star successor seems to reinforce the correctness of the TwinForce powertrain decision. The Ford/Getrag project is another move that seems to be correct. The point is, along with its diesel and CGI technology, Ford has what it takes to survive and prosper, even if it's in the #3 sales position — for now.

 

Times change. Eventually, it will be time for Ford to start on another '49 Ford design. 2049, that is. 41 years from now. Seems like a long time, and perhaps it is, certainly in terms of human life-span, but, remember, 2008 is the T Centennial — 100 years ago, they started making the sled that made the Blue Oval.

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What I don't understand is that I thought I read this a 1 1/2 years ago. Didn't they pass GM already? It was my understanding that GM, and Toyota were going back and forth for #1? They can flood the market with their crap, it's gonna kill they're resale!

Edited by Furious1Auto
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