Ford has lost out to Toyota and then some. It's now the number 4 car manufacturer. Toyota is number 2 at 9.018 million with GM at 9.18 million. It is surmised that Toyota will overtake GM as the number one manufacturer this year.
A very interesting sidebar to this is, Toyota is increasing sales to rental fleets while GM and Ford are decreasing. GM while decreasing fleet sales still saw a 1 percent car in car sales for 2006. Half of the increase that Toyta saw came from fleet sales.
Fleet sales are always bad for a manufacturer in the long run. In the average persons mind rental cars are cheap. Then the rentals flood the market with cheap high mileage nearly new cars that drive retails down on new cars and resale gets hurt on used. Also rentals are abused and tend to be less reliable as a used car, so the manufacturers reputation gets hurt. While short term it is good for Toyota, this doesn't bode well for long term health. They are following the path GM has just been down.
It's generally regarded by investors that GM has turned the corner. Ford on the other hand is about where GM was a year ago and they are not as healthy as GM was at this point. While it's way to early to say that Ford is close or going to go bankrupt, they are closer to it than a company would like to be. Another ominous bump in the road for Ford is going to be UAW negotiations for the contract that is up this fall. A strike would surely push them over the edge. Not getting some concessions from the UAW or worse having to actually increase pay or benefits would probably be just as fatal.
Pray for the company that Henry started. America needs her.
Don't know if you heard or not, but FoMoCo sold Aston Martin to French luxury conglomerate LVMH today for $1.2B. A good move for Ford, as they can now take Jaguar further upmarket without concern of cannibalizing sales.
Meanwhile, our local Lincoln Mercury dealer is in its death throes. Wholesaled all their used cars to raise cash, dumped their Jeep franchise and are now down to 10 cars on the lot total. And this dealer has been in operation for 60 years.
The guy who screwed Ford was Jac Nasser. Pissed away billions on stuff like Aston Martin, Jaguar, Volvo, Land Rover, etc. and all kinds of stupid ideas like trying to sell lease turn ins online so they wouldn't go to auction. Every brand in PAG, Nasser's baby, is losing huge dough except for Volvo -- which just above breakeven. Basically every nickel they made on Explorers in the 90's was flushed -- instead of using it to build new plants, develop new technologies or overhaul outdated product platforms.
Although Ford's looking in bad shape right now, I really like Alan Mulally as CEO. Just don't know if the company can last long enough for him to implement his thinking on things like standardized parts, true world cars, etc. and get it turned around. His could be a good for Ford as Ghosn was for Renault/Nissan.
PS: You get any of that bad weather in your area last night? Heard it was pretty ferocious...
I love it, the French own Aston Martin....I guess it's Jacques Bond now. That's gotta be a tough one for the Brits. The French have the good food and the good cars now.
Oh, and Ford is not number 4. They are a great big zero and have been for a long time.
Ford couldn't win a design competiton if they were the only one in it.
Quick, name a Ford product you'd buy.
Ford should do the decent thing and sell Volvo to GM.
Don't know if you heard or not, but FoMoCo sold Aston Martin to French luxury conglomerate LVMH today for $1.2B. A good move for Ford, as they can now take Jaguar further upmarket without concern of cannibalizing sales.
Meanwhile, our local Lincoln Mercury dealer is in its death throes. Wholesaled all their used cars to raise cash, dumped their Jeep franchise and are now down to 10 cars on the lot total. And this dealer has been in operation for 60 years.
The guy who screwed Ford was Jac Nasser. Pissed away billions on stuff like Aston Martin, Jaguar, Volvo, Land Rover, etc. and all kinds of stupid ideas like trying to sell lease turn ins online so they wouldn't go to auction. Every brand in PAG, Nasser's baby, is losing huge dough except for Volvo -- which just above breakeven. Basically every nickel they made on Explorers in the 90's was flushed -- instead of using it to build new plants, develop new technologies or overhaul outdated product platforms.
Although Ford's looking in bad shape right now, I really like Alan Mulally as CEO. Just don't know if the company can last long enough for him to implement his thinking on things like standardized parts, true world cars, etc. and get it turned around. His could be a good for Ford as Ghosn was for Renault/Nissan.
PS: You get any of that bad weather in your area last night? Heard it was pretty ferocious...
It came through about 4 miles north of me. There is about 2000 homes damaged and about 20+ people dead. A friend couldn't make it into work. At the end of the street that leads into his plan is a junkyard. All the cars and parts got picked up out of the junkyard and deposited on his street.
My friends and family are all ok and so are all my co-workers. Thanks for asking.
It's so goofy. How hard can it be to build a car that people want at a price they're willing to pay? They take a Lincoln LS, throw on a new body, and think people will pay 50G because it's a thunderbird. They leave every large car they have stuck in a timewarp while buying other brands with niche markets. Finally, they sink how much into the GT and sell how many.
Build great cars, structure options so they're not out of reach of buyers, and advertise like it's free. Oh, and control the damn dealers and stop ripping people off.
Still, I don’t know what they can do. Except for trucks and the Mustang, they have nothing going for them.
It's so goofy. How hard can it be to build a car that people want at a price they're willing to pay? They take a Lincoln LS, throw on a new body, and think people will pay 50G because it's a thunderbird. They leave every large car they have stuck in a timewarp while buying other brands with niche markets. Finally, they sink how much into the GT and sell how many.
Build great cars, structure options so they're not out of reach of buyers, and advertise like it's free. Oh, and control the damn dealers and stop ripping people off.
Still, I don’t know what they can do. Except for trucks and the Mustang, they have nothing going for them.
Basically all you say here, like BA said, goes back to Nasser's vision for Ford. When he took Ford over it was flush with cash and had a lot of top sellers. They had the Taurus, the Escort, The Explorer, the Mustang and the F150. Instead of using the cash those models were bringing in to improve them and keep them cutting edge, Jac blew the wad on sorry European status symbols.
Typical European attitude that thinks anything American is unrefined and without merit. Fortunately for Ford the F150 brand manager kept his compass or Ford would be toast right now.
It's so goofy. How hard can it be to build a car that people want at a price they're willing to pay? They take a Lincoln LS, throw on a new body, and think people will pay 50G because it's a thunderbird. They leave every large car they have stuck in a timewarp while buying other brands with niche markets. Finally, they sink how much into the GT and sell how many.
Build great cars, structure options so they're not out of reach of buyers, and advertise like it's free. Oh, and control the damn dealers and stop ripping people off.
Still, I don’t know what they can do. Except for trucks and the Mustang, they have nothing going for them.
Exactly! Natural selection has selected Ford for extinction.
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