akirby Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 That's because it's not always about the product, contrary to what you keep saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I just noticed this... Camaro 5,956 Mustang 12,663 That's more than double. But the new camaro will blow the mustang out of the water! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 But the new camaro will blow the mustang out of the water! There probably is some truth to current sales being low waiting for the new Camaro. Guess we'll have to see after the new one arrives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aneekr Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 That's because it's not always about the product, contrary to what you keep saying. Actually, I agree "it's not always about the product" in the premium car market. Bona fide premium products are necessary but not sufficient to compete. The problem for Acura, Infiniti, and Lincoln is that they barely achieve this 'necessary' condition, if at all. Cadillac has achieved that with ATS and CTS. But based on the mediocre to poor sales performance of these two Cadillacs, whatever is necessary to fulfill the 'sufficient' aspect seems to elude them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 for the likes of Acura Crazy thought: What if these luxury brands that are built off of shared platforms are generating sustainable revenue and profit, even if they do not impress you with their sales figures? --- What would be better? Cadillac products that sell modestly, but which do not cost a fortune to engineer and which produce a respectable ROI--even if they are treated with contempt by the cork-sniffing crowd-----------------or Cadillac products that cost a fortune to engineer, which are profitable only at unrealistic price and volume targets, and which are given grudging respect by the cork-sniffing crowd? --- This is not a market where you have to "get big or get out". Certainly, Lincoln's lineup does not need to be as bloated as BMW's or Mercedes'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2005Explorer Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 (edited) Without Explorer D3 would be pretty much pushing up daisies, but with that said, Explorer is doing amazing and a facelift is just around the corner! 20,000+ Explorers a month is great! Lincoln remains in tough shape. At some point if new models don't turn it around they might just have to put the old brand down and find a new way to reach the luxury market if they want to compete in it. Edited April 1, 2015 by 2005Explorer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Lincoln remains in tough shape. At some point if new models don't turn it around they might just have to put the old brand down and find a new way to reach the luxury market if they want to compete in it. What are you expectations for Lincoln anyways? Its not like the 30K+ car market is that huge. If they sell 20-50K units a year per name plate profitably for Ford, there isn't an issue. I think people are forgetting that Lincoln is an additional income stream for Ford, not its own entity that will sink or swim on how well they sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 There probably is some truth to current sales being low waiting for the new Camaro. Guess we'll have to see after the new one arrives. Haha I was being sarcastic, but yeah we will see. I don't think it will come close to the new mustang if it is indeed evolutionary and not revolutionary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Haha I was being sarcastic, but yeah we will see. I don't think it will come close to the new mustang if it is indeed evolutionary and not revolutionary In the end though it doesn't really matter as long as both models are selling reasonably well relative to what each mfr is expecting. You can always gain sales and market share with lower prices and bigger incentives if you're willing to sacrifice profits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Couple of notes here, F-150 STILL in short supply and barely trickling in, Edge 2014s slim pickings and 2015 BARELY trickling in as well, 2015 Explorers also running low as 16 on the way, 2015 Fusions just showing up.....theres four models with availability concerns...at least for now, and THAT also reflects on Marchs sales numbers.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
630land Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 (edited) Transits are hitting the streets, and look way better then Fiat's [Ram] big vans, those give kids nightmares. Anyway, gas prices are hurting compact Ford's. When it's cheap, it's "Honey, we need an SUV", and buyers pay up. So, no, a Focus "ZX2" coupe or wagon would not help profits, Europhiles. One Focus wagon would sell a month versus about 100-1000 Explorers. What Ford needs, though, is a B class ute to compete with Chevy Trax/Buick Encore, Honda's HR-V, and Jeep Renegede. Edited April 1, 2015 by 630land Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzcat Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Glass half full: Ford must be pleased that MKC is doing 50% of the volume of segment leader Audi Q5 after roughly 9 months on the market Glass half empty: Ford should be worried that similarly brand new Lexus NX is doing 75% more volume than MKC Compact Luxury CUV Sales March 2015 Acura RDX 3,963 Audi Q5 3,934 Lexus NX 3,633 Mercedes GLK 2,478 Volvo XC60 2,464 Lincoln MKC 2,070 BMW X3 1,541 Porsche Macan 1,180 Infiniti QX50 209 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Lexus has a much bigger customer base than Lincoln. It won't change overnight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironhorse Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Like Deanh posted, many Ford lines are in very short supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papilgee4evaeva Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 There probably is some truth to current sales being low waiting for the new Camaro. Guess we'll have to see after the new one arrives. Which is mildly interesting since they haven't even shown it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 we are also damn near out of Escapes and C-max's......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 (edited) we are also damn near out of Escapes and C-max's......... How many C-max's do you sell though? Judging by how may we build, they are keeping the inventory short on purpose. Also, I suspect that MY2015 will be a short one for C-Max, I think Trials begin for MY 2016 soon. Edited April 1, 2015 by fuzzymoomoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Which is mildly interesting since they haven't even shown it yet. But they've certainly announced it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
630land Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Per the press release, "Commericial van sales best since 1994". So who said that the Transit would 'flop' since "industries demand BOF only"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aneekr Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 ...who said that the Transit would 'flop' since "industries demand BOF only"? I don't think anyone here at Blue Oval Forums made that claim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzcat Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I don't think anyone here at Blue Oval Forums made that claim. Oh sure, some did. I even dubbed them the E-Series mafia, although I suspect it was just the same person posting under 2 or 3 different names. The van numbers are incredible this month. Nearly 10,000 Transit, nearly 5,000 Transit Connect, and another 6,000 E-series (probably mostly cab chassis or cutaway at this point). Fusion numbers are down... when is the mid cycle update due? 2016? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzcat Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 (edited) we are also damn near out of Escapes and C-max's......... Just an observation... and some deductive reasoning. Escape sales is off by 2,398 units from March 2014. MKC sales is 2,070 units this month (vs. 0 last year). Since Ford is basically production constrained at Louisville, this means Ford is happily trading some Escape sales for presumably higher margin MKC sales. Now I suppose this could open the door for another C-car assembly plant in North America... Ford is on track to sell more than 50,000 Transit Connect this year and it clearly could use 10~15% more volume on Escape/MKC so another 30~40,000 units. That's almost 100,000 unit right there and starting to approach a breakeven point for adding a new assembly line. Edited April 1, 2015 by bzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 What's the situation at Cuautitlan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Just an observation... and some deductive reasoning. Escape sales is off by 2,398 units from March 2014. MKC sales is 2,070 units this month (vs. 0 last year). Since Ford is basically production constrained at Louisville, this means Ford is happily trading some Escape sales for presumably higher margin MKC sales. Now I suppose this could open the door for another C-car assembly plant in North America... Ford is on track to sell more than 50,000 Transit Connect this year and it clearly could use 10~15% more volume on Escape/MKC so another 30~40,000 units. That's almost 100,000 unit right there and starting to approach a breakeven point for adding a new assembly line. FYI, Inventory levels as ot march 1 MKC 11,000 Fiesta 22,600 C-Max, 6,000 There's no indication that any of those levels have changed significantly last month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertlane Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 My notes from the GM sales thread... (Ford) Fleet down 13%, retail up 1%. (GM) Fleet up 2%, retail down 5%. Ram within 4,000 units of Silverado. F-Series back to beaing combined Silverado / Sierra by 5,000 units, even as F-Series changeover continues. 200 handily outsold lame-duck Malibu. Cadillac continues to have its ass saved by Escalade, still posted a 6% decline for the brand. ATS and CTS down 31.6% and 48.6% respectively, combined selling only 3,539 units. Ouch. Was the "new" Silverado enough of a departure in terms of styling from the previous ones? I wasn't sure that it was. From what I understand, the 200 is deeply discounted. MkT outsold SS and ELR combined. Flex back to outselling C-Max. I can't see the MKT and Flex continuing after the Edge and MKX go global. And after the Lincoln Aviator comes out, the MKT might not even have a place. Patience, Grasshopper, patience. The re-building of the Lincoln brand will take the rest of this decade and longer. Consider how many years it took your M-B to produce the AMG's and all the other ubersleds that you are in thrall of? From 1945, it took almost 20 years to their first big V-8's. Think where Audi was a while back - left for dead. It might take Lincoln a decade +. Fortunately, the have China as a rising star for Lincoln sales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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