playdoh43

perhaps ford has hit rock bottom and theres no where to go but up? couple of stock analysts are recommending buying ford stock now, once viewed as untouchable for a while

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/23/f...billion-in-q3/

Rhawb

That's HUUUUUUUGE. Maybe they'll finally realize they need to get their **** together and start building cars that people actually desire to purchase. Aside from the Mustang and GT, I honestly don't know if I've ever heard someone say they WANT a Ford. If they start bringing their hot Euro models home and start greenlighting interesting cars like the Iosis, I think it's quite possible for them to right their ship. Though, I can guarantee they're going under if they keep plopping down steaming turds like the 500.

playdoh43

Mazda: During the third quarter of 2006, Ford's share of Mazda pre-tax profits and associated operations was $40 million, compared with $112 million during the same period a year ago. The decline primarily reflected the non-recurrence of mark-to-market gains on Mazda convertible bonds during 2005, which have now been entirely converted to equity.

can someone translate this? what does non-recurrence of mark tp market gains on Mazda convertile bonds mean?

Rhawb

They're just saying that James Bond drives convertibles.

saturn

That's what she said!

Allllllllllllright!!!

CarAndDriver

Focus--rental car image, performance models never reintroduced
Explorer--mediocre and already behind the Japanese competition
Expedition--plodding and mediocre
Escape--aging aging aging
500--needs more power
Freestar--killed b/c they couldn't produce a decent minivan. The Koreans can though.
Crown Victoria--slow, gas guzzling, a dinosaur that needed to die millions of years ago

Lincoln--that whole brand is a catastrophic mess with horrible products

Jaguar--only decent car is the new XK. The rest, especially the X-type and S-type, need to be put out to pasture or made competitive

Tigster

Mustang: fat ugly sled..... Needs to go on a diet....

playdoh43

its not easy to change such a big corporation, theres tons of challenges besides putting out better cars such as coporate culture and production methods. ford has already done a lot toward turning the sinking ship around starting with sharing the mazda 6 platform and agressive cost saving cuts. I can see signs of better times to come for ford.

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

they need to bring over the 2nd gen Focus from Europe STAT

a much better car than the current 1+ gen Foci in NA...

tjbourgoyne

Agree. The days of relying on a couple of products and country music stars to save their *** is over. Now that they have done the cut backs they need to put that into R&D and edge into to some of the niche markets. I can see them pulling out of the hole they dug in 5 years if they do it right.

Clavius

Ford as already stated needs to make cars that people desire and not just make cars people settle for. Only the Mustang and F-150 are cars/trucks that people associate with Ford thats its. The Fusion and 500 are to most people the new age Taurus one for the older crowd one for the younger but its still a "I can't get a cadi so I'll settle for the 500.". Focus to me and many others still has that um "rainbow image" and you all can figure out what I mean by yourself. And um their SuV's are typical F.O.R.D. now because of gas price's they shouldnt even bother trying to slap in Hybrids.

Ford should should be the first to just grow a set and say "screw the SUV's" leave only one in production and take that plant capacity and have it start making some killer cars which I know their design staff can make. Hell take a page out of GM's book and start raping your over sea's plants. I heard a few of the cars they have over there are pretty sweet and Rear Wheel Drive!!!

I dunno maybe Ford's board members are masocist's and enjoy losing money each quarter. Sad half of us on this board could run the company better, hmm hell I say we fire the board and hire some of us instead hehe.

Now to see how much stock of Fords I can buy hehe

saturn

Funny you should say that seeing as how they've launched a whole series of commercials that are so stereotypically "tough guy" it's laughable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK7moi7wDW0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqEmPqpCr8k

Just watch these commercials and then tell me Ford is really trying to change their image. They should just change the name to Honky Tonk Motor Company.

DrDiaboloco

The REAL problem with the Focus is that it's just a warmed-over version of the Gen1 Focus, when the rest of the world gets the Gen2 Focus. If you want a Gen2 Focus in the US, you have to get the Mazda or Volvo platform-mates.

Clavius

Maybe they should hire Mazda's ad makers and have thier own jingle, Zoom-Zoom worked wonders for Mazda why not um.. hmm.. erm... someone help me out here for a catch phrase for Ford, and no Found On Road Dead isnt a catch phrase.

Wankel_lover

How 'bout "Fix or Repair Daily"

Clavius

That could work.. with the tag line afterward of "for those men who realy love to work on their cars and trucks!"

no dice

Found On Road Dead

Backwards:

Driver Returned On Foot

jisoo26

It's not only their mediocre products...they're crippled by overly costly compensation packages negotiated by the unions as well as efficiency problems in the vehicle design. They need to start doing things like consoldating the number of parts used to produce the vehicles...like using the same door handles for multiple cars, etc. Toyota, Honda, and Nissan are great in that area and it saves them millions in part production and design. Chrysler is making some headway into that area but is only slightly better than Ford at the moment.

therm8

Yup. It takes loads of cash to do this. GM started the process last year. Hence their huge losses in 2005 and early 2006. $6 billion is just the start, and it's no reason to sound alarms...just yet. If anything it's hope for the future.

Clavius

Just thought of this and figured I'd toss it out there.
GM has talked about making changes and we've seen them and read about them.
Ford has talked about it and um.. has made commercials about it.

GM you hear about making Pontiac their performance brand and making each of their brands stand out for certain things.
Ford um.. they've made commercials about Bold Moves.

GM is currently raping Holden much to the delight of most Americans.
Ford has um er.. made commericals about the Shelby Mustang being brought to Germany.

I guess my point is GM has been doing something about it beyond making silly commercials while Ford has just made commercials.

Spin9k

Ford's demise is similar to the much used parody of watching a slow motion train wreck. Everyone has an opinion on what caused it and how to stop it...but in the end all everyone is gonna get to do is sit and watch it happen, because nothing is going to change with a company so rife with the stench of 60s era American car engineering, and marketing directed by retiring q-tips and truck/SUV oriented macho-men. The chance of them wholesale fixing their pitiful plight is very unlikely. It's systemic, ingrained, and the ship will be sinking with everyone on board saying it just can't happen.

I hope Ford corporate proves me wrong, but I imagine the world of cars in 20 years run by the Japanese, regardless of what country they manufactured their cars in, with the Europeans playing a lesser role, and China and Asia in general being the next big developing growth region in car production similar to South Korean today as their quality ramps up.

Tessai

Gonna +1 to a new focus, and give us more of the performance trims, too.

Stop marketing hatches as the bargain-basment product and market them as fun little cars that sip gas... which they are!

The F-150 sells a ton, don't mess with it.

Cut back on SUVs, no one wants them anymore. Keep the explorer for the few that do. Based on the F-150, share as many parts as possible.

Bring back a sporty coupe, like the probe. Give it a 4-banger engine with a RWD drivetrain and market it to drift kiddies. (The Ford Kabura equivalent)

Kill the new "Life in D" campaign. Real drivers don't use automatics. Every time I see those commercials it kills whatever small interest I had in the advertised car.

map

In fairness to Ford they always sell a **** load of trucks, so it must work for that at least. The worst for commercial was that grey haired guy that won American Idol. Not only is he someone nobody cares about but I can't stand the way he shakes his finger at the camera, like he's shaking it at me the audience.

Still, Ford's ads aren't nearly as bad as Dodge's.

Clavius

Dr.Z

saturn

True, but the fact that those commercials are so over the top macho man makes me stand up and notice "hey this is a Ford commercial" -- and that's not the kind of lasting impression they want to have with the non-truck driving public.

Ford doesn't have a very good low priced sedan to bring in the sales (the hatchback Focus was too radical of a design when it came out and the sedan version is boring and unimpressive). They don't have a flashy sports coupe to build interest in the company (the Mustang is a live axle muscle car with no finesse that doesn't appeal to a wide variety of people). Ford is still too busy concentrating on trucks, SUVs, and ethanol to make any real difference in their bottom line.

I know everyone has an opinion of how to fix this so it kind of makes you wonder if Ford actually asked ANYONE what they thought. Stop making cheesy commercials and building the Shelby Mustang. Build one sports coupe that will make people stand up and remember you and have a solid low cost sedan waiting at dealerships for those people. Change your horrid logo to someone modern and start producing cars (as in not trucks or SUVs) that actually match the "bold moves" you spout off at every possible opportunity.