Oh, is that right? You mean making crappy vehicles for years and years, and then basically ignoring the whole gas problem might put your company in jeopardy? I guess Ford should have turned the suck-knob down a few notches over the last few years, because apparently they just posted their worst quarter ever.
That’s not to say I don’t have friends with Ford vehicles, and the stuff they have seem fairly decent. But compared to vehicles imported from Japan or Europe, North American cars are just built to lower standards. American auto companies have long since trailed behind Japan in important areas such as fuel consumption, thinking that gas would always be a cheap luxury.
Take a look at Ford’s main web page. In the “Vehicle Showroom” feature for the Ford brand, six of the vehicles are “cars”, everything else is a pickup, SUV or crossover. And that’s only if you count the Focus and Mustang twice.
While the Ford Escape Hybrid offers greatly improved city mileage over it’s standard engine brother, it comes at a premium of about $8000 extra. That’s if you can find one. This spring, when I checked on availability of that vehicle, I found that there was only one, literally just one, for sale at any dealership in the entire state!
For years, auto manufacturers have been saying that they just are giving the public what it wants, and that’s trucks and SUVs. Ford has continued its manufacturing based on outdated modes of thought about what people want in a vehicle.
Right now, what the public wants is something affordable to operate – not another gas guzzler.
Will Ford make changes to its lineup quick enough to continue as one of the major manufactureres, or will “Built Ford Tough” simply not be good enough?
Given that the United States is on the brink of a major recession, that motor companies are laying individuals off, and that banks seem to be folding daily down south, I think Ford may be in a lot of trouble. Maybe they shouldn’t have, you know, bet the farm on SUVs and huge, gas guzzling trucks.
Something that blows my mind a bit when thinking about this topic is that I don’t really think any less trucks & SUV’s are being purchased…at least not here anyway. I’m still from a relatively rural area, though, so trucks are going to continue to be driven (until the farmer is driven out of business). We have no public transportation and nothing is really within walking distance, which is bad given the economy and environment we live in. I drive 20 miles to work and drive a Ford Explorer (which I got before the gas prices went completely nuts).
Don’t you drive a Mazda Duane? 🙂 (Mazda is basically Ford)
Ford only owns a small portion of Mazda, and not enough to have any sort of rights with regards to decisions. Mazda still makes most of its cores off-shore, and is one of the only companies to have six of its cars in the top twenty last year I believe.
I’m certainly not sticking up for Ford – I can’t see me buying another ford in the future. I have owned two Ford pickups in the past and have nothing bad to say about them quality wise – gas consumption on the other hand…well that is why I ultimately got rid of my last truck. With respect to Mazda and Ford – Ford makes Mazda’s trucks (and SUVs) but I guess you’re talking more about their cars so…