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Ford’s Rating Inches Toward Junk at S&P on ‘Subpar’ Performance


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9 hours ago, jpd80 said:

Hackett is spending a fortune on a new future 
Wall Street won’t “see that” until we’ll after it happens.

It is not just Hackett !

 

Billy decided he needed to "leave his personal mark" on Detroit when he bought the Michigan Train Depot.  I twill cost billions and take years to restore it.  Even then, its location/usage is questionable because of it location (there is very little parking and there is effectively NO public transportation).  Best feature of the area is Slows BBQ across Michigan Avenue.  If you want to run over there for a quick lunch, the Train Depot is set back so far from the street it would take 15 minutes to walk there and 15 minutes back.  Kind of hard to do for on a 1/2 hour lunch break.

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What's the "personnel" problem all about?  Internal corporate sabotage?   And every five to ten years they do a multi-billion dollar restructuring!  Do it once and be done with it! Is it REALLY costing them all this money to SHUT plants?  It seems to cost more money to shut plants than to build them!  Is it just a paperwork/tax break thing?  I don't get it!  Very sad.

Edited by Joe771476
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On 10/26/2019 at 10:04 AM, theoldwizard said:

It is not just Hackett !

 

Billy decided he needed to "leave his personal mark" on Detroit when he bought the Michigan Train Depot.  I twill cost billions and take years to restore it.  Even then, its location/usage is questionable because of it location (there is very little parking and there is effectively NO public transportation).  Best feature of the area is Slows BBQ across Michigan Avenue.  If you want to run over there for a quick lunch, the Train Depot is set back so far from the street it would take 15 minutes to walk there and 15 minutes back.  Kind of hard to do for on a 1/2 hour lunch break.

I agee with that about the train station in its current form about parking and lack of conveniences. They could do nothing , tear it down and one more piece of Detroit down the tubes of despair, or actually try and make something of an iconic building. We all know the Moron family or the city wasn’t going to. 
Like any new construction, chances are a parking garage will be made, restaurants  will come in, maybe even be in the train station. Mass transit could be brought in. 
Although we see from the outside a big mess of corporate ADD, I welcome some forward thinking. Ford has stayed in business 116 years. They have to be doing something right every now and then. 
I would rather Ford risk money and try new ventures rather than do nothing and go stale like Sears. If sears had any forward thinking they would have turned those catalog sales into online sales way before amazon. 
That said, Ford does need to get a hold  of some current issues with quality etc. 

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There is no way to overstate how inept Mark Fields was, he is the real villain in this story.  He completely abandoned Ford globally and failed to prep Ford in anyway for the future.  His interests were all CEO pet projects, Performance Cars and Lincoln.  He is the worst form of CEO, visionless and inbred.  Thanks for Lincoln, but the task Hacket has infront of him is just enormous and it's not something that can be done overnight.  It should be obvious now how much is finally being realized, but we are still a good year away from the fruits of their post Fields work. 

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I thought Mark Fields was FAR more adept than this Steelcase-former CEO.  He's a total disaster.  And Billy Boy isn't helping.  Also, close that darn Chicago disaster plant ASAP.  Move Explorer/Aviator production to China if need be.  No excuse.  The Lordstown plant for GM is roses compared to this sh*t.

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3 hours ago, ausrutherford said:

The first and foremost problem is that Wall Street likes to control companies. They can't do that with Ford for its still the family that does that. 

Wall Street is run off rumors, guesses and projections. It’s like a person with bipolar disorder. One minute everything is wonderful and one blip and the sky is falling. It would be interesting to calculate how many times these “experts” are correct versus not. I suspect like the weather man, more misses than hits. 

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3 hours ago, CLTEcoBoost said:

I thought Mark Fields was FAR more adept than this Steelcase-former CEO.  He's a total disaster.  And Billy Boy isn't helping. 


You have no idea what you’re talking about.  Fields cancelled all sorts of things including Explorer/aviator and hoarded cash for no reason.  He set back product development at least 2 years.

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4 hours ago, Assimilator said:

we are still a good year away from the fruits of their post Fields work. 

 

Not according to Jim Hackett. In April of this year he said "We're turning the corner," he (Hackett) said. "Trust me on this."

In addition:

Quote

 

He's said repeatedly since January that 2019 will be a "year of execution" at the automaker after disappointing financial results in 2018. Speaking to the Detroit Economic Club Tuesday, Hackett said he's getting used to constant chiding from investors and the media, for all his talk of the future. But he said he's made clear to those in the company that he won't accept another year of poor earnings results. It's personal, Hackett said. 

"If they thought that we rationalize a year like that as OK, you need to know that I'm telling myself I can't have another year (2018) like that," Hackett said. 

 

 

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2019/04/09/ford-ceo-jim-hackett-detroit-economic-club/3410043002/

Edited by Harley Lover
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15 minutes ago, akirby said:


You have no idea what you’re talking about.  Fields cancelled all sorts of things including Explorer/aviator and hoarded cash for no reason.  He set back product development at least 2 years.

Purely speculation, but I have a feeling the Ford family sets expectations and the ceo tries to appease them at all costs rather than tell them the hard truth. I wonder if fields was trying to keep himself off the hot seat by padding the books with cost cutting.
So is the Ford family near sighted and doesn’t see the value of investment of the future? Or is it that the CEOs just want to make as much money as they can during their tenure and ride the golden parachute down? 

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10 hours ago, fordtech1 said:

I agee with that about the train station in its current form about parking and lack of conveniences. They could do nothing , tear it down and one more piece of Detroit down the tubes of despair, or actually try and make something of an iconic building. We all know the Moron family or the city wasn’t going to. 
Like any new construction, chances are a parking garage will be made, restaurants  will come in, maybe even be in the train station. Mass transit could be brought in. 
Although we see from the outside a big mess of corporate ADD, I welcome some forward thinking. Ford has stayed in business 116 years. They have to be doing something right every now and then. 
I would rather Ford risk money and try new ventures rather than do nothing and go stale like Sears. If sears had any forward thinking they would have turned those catalog sales into online sales way before amazon. 
That said, Ford does need to get a hold  of some current issues with quality etc. 

 

Well said, I agree.

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20 hours ago, fordtech1 said:

Purely speculation, but I have a feeling the Ford family sets expectations and the ceo tries to appease them at all costs rather than tell them the hard truth. I wonder if fields was trying to keep himself off the hot seat by padding the books with cost cutting.
So is the Ford family near sighted and doesn’t see the value of investment of the future? Or is it that the CEOs just want to make as much money as they can during their tenure and ride the golden parachute down? 

 

I mean.   They fired Fields for not investing in the future....so.........

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2 hours ago, rmc523 said:

 

I mean.   They fired Fields for not investing in the future....so.........

That was the explanation. Not sure if you have ever experienced a owner/boss that tells you to do one thing but if it doesn’t work out, it’s your fault. I absolutely have no proof that this is going on at Ford but I could totally see it. 

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Fields was more pragmatic and preferred playing to Ford’s strengths in North America

with the HEVs  and PHEVs that we’re seeing,

pretty sure he also green lit the Super Duty 7.3 V8. 
 

yes, Fields had his faults in riding everything into the ground which caused massive problems in China, Europe and ROW.

 

in this current position, Bill Ford and Jim Hackett have bought “magic beans” with F Series profits. It’s now up to JH to sell the sizzle to Wall Street, if he can’t do that then it’s a major communication failure on his part.

He still can’t tell us what white space vehicles are.

Edited by jpd80
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2 minutes ago, jpd80 said:

Fields was more pragmatic and preferred playing to Ford’s strengths in North America

with the HEVs  and PHEVs that we’re seeing,

pretty sure he also green lit the Super Duty 7.3 V8. 
 

yes, Fields had his faults in riding everything into the ground which caused massive problems in China, Europe and ROW.

 

in this current position, Bill Ford and Jim Hackett have bought “magic beans” with F Series profits. 

I just can’t get behind this Hackett guy. I’m trying to be optimistic, but he just doesn’t seem to be the right guy for the job. But time will tell. Let’s see what happens!

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15 minutes ago, jpd80 said:

Fields was more pragmatic and preferred playing to Ford’s strengths in North America

with the HEVs  and PHEVs that we’re seeing,

pretty sure he also green lit the Super Duty 7.3 V8. 
 

yes, Fields had his faults in riding everything into the ground which caused massive problems in China, Europe and ROW.

 

in this current position, Bill Ford and Jim Hackett have bought “magic beans” with F Series profits. It’s now up to JH to sell the sizzle to Wall Street, if he can’t do that then it’s a major communication failure on his part.

He still can’t tell us what white space vehicles are.

Part of the problem is it reamains to be seen if the no further cars to be sold by ford is in fact the right path....future product wall street does not care about...its what can you do now....if f series would ever get in trouble ford will merge.....fields is only the bad guy right now because he is gone...soon as steelcase guy is outed everything will be his fault 

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1 minute ago, snooter said:

Part of the problem is it reamains to be seen if the no further cars to be sold by ford is in fact the right path....future product wall street does not care about...its what can you do now....if f series would ever get in trouble ford will merge.....fields is only the bad guy right now because he is gone...soon as steelcase guy is outed everything will be his fault 

This may have been discussed before, can CD6 platform be switched to a car quickly? Did Ford have a plan B Incase cars come back in style, can they throw a top hat on and get back to business of selling cars?

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59 minutes ago, fordtech1 said:

This may have been discussed before, can CD6 platform be switched to a car quickly? Did Ford have a plan B Incase cars come back in style, can they throw a top hat on and get back to business of selling cars?

 

I *think* CD6 at one time was going to host the Taurus in China, and perhaps the Continental in the U.S. - if that recollection is correct, then yes, it can handle a car tophat.

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CD6 was original envisioned as a platform for Continental, Mustang, and Explorer/Aviator, but the Continental and Mustang applications were killed relatively early in development (that's what lead to the cancellation rumors for Continental within a year after it launched).   So the platform really has no development work to scale, that's one way they were able to trim some costs and speed up development.  You definitely won't see this platform used again, especially with cars gone and electrification taking over the premium and performance segments.  The architecture (the parts list) will almost certainly be the basis for the updated Mustangs however.  

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