No Shit.
Front page headline of today’s Detroit Free Press: “How Plans Went Sour For Ford’s Turnaround: Gas Prices Dent Truck Sales”. Am I the only one smacking my head against the wall after reading this? My friends and I (and most anyone else with half a brain) have been saying for years now that, eventually, Ford’s over-reliance on SUVs and large-scale pickups would be a disaster, especially in the wake of high gas prices over the past several years. But, once again, Ford couldn’t see past the fat profits SUV and large truck sales gave them, and continued to turn a blind eye — so now they’re stuck with a whole bunch of mammoth vehicles no one wants, and hardly any cars that anyone wants. How is it those clowns in Dearborn can’t see what even I — someone with very little knowledge in the field of automobiles — can plainly see?
This is the Way Forward for Ford, all right — the Way Forward to Bankruptcy.
Categorized as Cars/Auto News, Cars
You’re just a super postin’ machine over here lately!
I heard about Ford’s “bigger loss than expected” the other day, and then it was mentioned again yesterday on some news radio station at the top of the hour. The reporter remarked that Ford’s bread and butter vehicles were the F-150 and Explorer. And here I thought Ford’s bread and butter was stuff like the 500 and Focus. Bread and butter typically refers to vehicles which are very nondescript but which the public buys in huge droves (like the Camry) because they’re simple, economical and affordable. You have your bread and butter to make you money, and your halo cars (Mustang, Ford GT — oh, sorry, they quit making the GT) to make you look good.
So if Ford’s bread and butter are trucks and SUVs, that’s an even bigger hit for them to take if fuel costs prompt “vanity buyers” of such things to switch to something more economical. Of course, “utility buyers” will continue to buy trucks no matter what because they actually need a truck’s capabilities, either for their job or to pull a trailer or whatever.
Interestingly, gas prices don’t seem to have hurt sales of GM’s next-generation trucks and SUVs as much, but that may be the “wow factor” since GM’s fleet is brand new, and Ford’s is at least two or three years old.
I heard that one of Ford’s latest ideas is to videotape company meetings and air them on the Web, so that the public can see the truth about how bad it really is so that…um, they can feel pity and go buy a Ford to be nice, I guess?
I am quite the posting machine the past few days (hey, at least this post isn’t Puffy related =P), aren’t I?
I agree that if Ford’s “bread and butter” vehicles are huge, clunky trucks and SUVs, they’re in far more trouble than was first thought. Of course, it’s hard to have a car lineup that’s your “bread and butter” when you systematically axe all but one or two cars in said lineup. Another problem is so many of the “bread and butter” style cars are so BORING, especially here in the U.S., that’s it’s hard to get excited over them. I mean, nondescript is one thing, but can’t we have a little style to go with our functional car? Just a little?