Ford set to unveil fresh shake-up

[iGav]

But while the future of the carmaker's North American operations seems unsure, the review is not expected to lead to huge changes at Ford's profitable European operations.

There's a hint in there somewhere guys.

Linky

 

[relimw]

There's a hint in there somewhere guys.

A hint at what?

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Well hurrah, but I won't care unless its immediate effects involve

- giving the Mustang a suspension that doesn't date from the 18th century and

- giving us the hotter versions of the Focus that we can't buy here in the states.

Good luck Ford... I think your best bet is to invest on research into brining 'ol Henry back from the dead. He may have been a fascist but at least he knew how to build good cars.

 

[iGav]

A hint at what?

In America, Ford make dodgy quality cars that no one wants to buy.

In Europe, Ford make stylish, well built, dynamic drivers cars that frequently top sales charts and gain their fair share of awards whilst being lauded by journalists throughout the continent as being rarely anything less than brilliant.

 

[balamw]

In Europe, Ford make stylish, well built, dynamic drivers cars that frequently top sales charts and gain their fair share of awards whilst being lauded by journalists throughout the continent as being rarely anything less than brilliant.

Which they then proceed to neuter and bring lesser versions of to the US.

B

 

[relimw]

In America, Ford make dodgy quality cars that no one wants to buy.

In Europe, Ford make stylish, well built, dynamic drivers cars that frequently top sales charts and gain their fair share of awards whilst being lauded by journalists throughout the continent as being rarely anything less than brilliant.

Hmm, I guess that makes me a 'no one'

Ford has a lot of problems, must of them represented by three letters "UAW", followed shortly there after by the initials BFJr.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

In America, Ford make dodgy quality cars that no one wants to buy.

Unfortunately, this is because Ford makes most of there money here in the US from truck and SUV sales, especially now that the Taurus is gone (thank God). Over here, The Focus is a cheap car for poor people or students - boring engines and little refinement (though even in US-spec it is still a very good handler by American standards). A shame considering what you can get in Europe.

The Crown Vic/Grand Marquis are a million years old, and driven by people of the same age, when it isn't a cop or taxi driver behind the wheel. The Fusion and it's Mercury clone are soulless and boring, especially compared with the Mondeo. The Five Hundred is supposed to replace the Crown Vic but even old people/cops/taxi drivers aren't interested. The Mustang has a lot going for it (fast, good-looking, cheap) but is needlessly crude. Which leave the F-series pickups, Ranger pickup and the SUVs - Explorer, Expedition, Excursion. The trucks are high-volume, high-profit in comparison to the cars. They are also more ancient than the Mustang's leaf-spring suspension. Which is fine, but Ford (like GM) concentrates on keeping those truck sales high when they should be making better passenger cars.

In Europe, Ford must make good cars to compete. Here they don't, and by God it shows...

I say bring the Mondeo and Euro Focus here, including the diesels (we are getting the ultra-low sulphur stuff now). The smaller cars like the Festiva might compete on price with the Korean cars too.

 

[bousozoku]

...
- giving the Mustang a suspension that doesn't date from the 18th century ...

Hey, it was good enough for Volvo in the 1970s, so it's good enough for Mustang in the 21 century...still.

I saw elsewhere that two high-ranking people are retiring, too. That certainly doesn't make up for all the rank-and-file workers going away, though. Of course, if they were a lot less top heavy, they might be better financially.

 

[relimw]

I saw elsewhere that two high-ranking people are retiring, too. That certainly doesn't make up for all the rank-and-file workers going away, though. Of course, if they were a lot less top heavy, they might be better financially.

Er, maybe you should actually look at where all the money goes first. A lot of it goes to people would don't actually do any work. ie As I recall a news channel (abc/cbs/nbc/cnbc) did a report about Ford and GM not being able to lay off workers because of some past deal in the '80-'90s. Paying somebody $80k + health benefits + pension to sit around for 8 hours a day and not actually work is dumb. Additionally, Bill Ford Jr. did resign as CEO recently and was replaced by someone from Boeing.

Ford has a lot of work to do, including paring down the non-productive workers, both white- and blue-collar and associated expenses. Higher QA, and better designs will help as well. Personally, the current Roush Mustangs look ugly to me, I prefer the more classical stylings of the line. Extending Hybrid technologies into the Explorer and Expedition lines will give those lines a boost. Cutting costs and giving more bang for your buck on the bottom lines (A/C and automatics still aren't standard on all vehicles at the cheapest level).

 

[bousozoku]

Er, maybe you should actually look at where all the money goes first. A lot of it goes to people would don't actually do any work. ie As I recall a news channel (abc/cbs/nbc/cnbc) did a report about Ford and GM not being able to lay off workers because of some past deal in the '80-'90s. Paying somebody $80k + health benefits + pension to sit around for 8 hours a day and not actually work is dumb. Additionally, Bill Ford Jr. did resign as CEO recently and was replaced by someone from Boeing.

Ford has a lot of work to do, including paring down the non-productive workers, both white- and blue-collar and associated expenses. Higher QA, and better designs will help as well. Personally, the current Roush Mustangs look ugly to me, I prefer the more classical stylings of the line. Extending Hybrid technologies into the Explorer and Expedition lines will give those lines a boost. Cutting costs and giving more bang for your buck on the bottom lines (A/C and automatics still aren't standard on all vehicles at the cheapest level).

I'm far beyond that. I knew of people working for GM in the early 1980s being paid $17 per hour + benefits for pushing a broom.

Delphi is on strike because they've had plenty of workers that do nothing but make money.

Isn't this how things are supposed to work, despite the cries of Synergy! in the 1980s and 1990s?

 

[Lord Blackadder]

My beef isn't so much with the leaf spring suspension itself but more with the reason it's there. All the rich old-school hot-rodders demanded that the new Mustang have the same suspension they had become used to working on over the last 40 years. Ford acquiesced, the hot-rodders are happy, and the rest of us are saddled with old-school handling properties.

Anyway I digress. Ford is bloated, and I can only hope that they plan to trim the fat. But as iGav pointed out, they already have good cars, cars, which I think should be brought to the American market rather than cooking up half-baked (Fusion, Five Hundred) US-only cars.

The Contour (US-spec Mondeo) had some build quality issues but was a much better car (in V6 form) than the Taurus. Its mortal sin was that it was smaller than the unholy Taurus/Camry/Accord trinity, so many ignored it. As a result it gets cancelled and not replaced until the Fusion comes along, which is based on the (superior) Mazda6.

Giving the big SUVs hybrid drivetrains is not going to work - why do you think the Prius is so small? Because big hybrid powertrains are currenly no more efficient than gas engines, and worse than Diesels. The bigger SUVs will never be fuel efficient due to their sheer mass.

 

[Old Smuggler]

i have 3 fords two Taurus and a f-25 diesel they have had their share of problems but once you fix the problem they have been faithful
(can you guess the problem i had with both of my taurus?)

on a side note i relly like what Dieter Zetsche has done with dodge
the ram 3500 4x4 cant be beat with that cummins inline six
its all about the inline six hardly anyone makes an inline any more except for bmw
and the magnum looks really nice thats one wagon i would own

now they just need to focus some of that attention back to mercedes because those cars are overpriced POS

 

[Lord Blackadder]

i have 3 fords two Taurus and a f-25 diesel they have had their share of problems but once you fix the problem they have been faithful
(can you guess the problem i had with both of my taurus?)

I would guess automatic transmission...Tauruses are notorious for going through transmissions like water.

 

[Old Smuggler]

i just heard that ford is doing major layoffs
so i guess dont buy them but what suprised me is the news said they are losing sales to honda
HONDA! i mean maybe they make reliable cars
but who wants a sport tuner anyways yuk!
toyota i would buy

but i refuse to drive around in anything with rims that makes me look like a teenage dopehead

you would have t be on drugs to drive around in something that looks like a spaceship

 

[mad jew]

I'd just like take this opportunity to say that despite being a Holden man, Ford Australia is doing some great things right now. If Ford USA wasn't so stubborn about designing and making your own metal, you guys could be driving some decent hatches (European Focus) and some decent large sedans (Australian Falcon). It's a shame really.

 

[dpaanlka]

It seems like Ford has focused on making cheaper products, whereas GM has focused on making better products lately. New GM interiors are stunning, Ford is still the same old Ford.