I guess Ford really screwed up.

[BigEvil]

Maybe they should start making cars and trucks that dont have to be recalled 10 times each for stupid things.

30k jobs to be cut by 2012. That is an embarassment to this country. Then they say that the Japanese car companies that have production facilities in the US are so busy that they are starving for employees.

[Cow hunter]

we make fool sof ourselves all the time...... you know saturn? they were created in 91' (i think) to "out japan the japanese"....... suuuuuure......... far as i know some of the most reliable cars out there are japanese, toyota, honda, acura, ect

[Lohman446]

we make fool sof ourselves all the time...... you know saturn? they were created in 91' (i think) to "out japan the japanese"....... suuuuuure......... far as i know some of the most reliable cars out there are japanese, toyota, honda, acura, ect

In short term studies using full factory recommended maintenance...

Not as most people drive (and maintain) vehicles and not for greater than five year old vehicles.

As to not being able to find employees... one could say it has a lot to do with careful placement of new facilities in right to work states, the wage difference between those and the big three, and various other factors that make them less desireable jobs than the traditional big three jobs.

[lopxtc]

I'll stick to German engineering myself (even if its built in Mexico or Canada) ...

From what I understand you can thank the unions for a lot of the additional expense that the big US auto makers have. Now I dont know if that is true or not, but if the non-us auto makers dont have to deal with unions then it does seem like it would explain the issues. Personally after dealing with a union back in my days as a grocery bagger I have made sure to never have to have to deal with a union again.

Aaron

[Crighton]

Ford has been the auto company with the MOST idle producation capability in the world for almost 5 years now.

They can easily cut back on that capacity and continue to meet the sales demands. They're also going to axe a few vehicle models that aren't selling well. Hopefully get on the ball bring a few new models to market in high demand categories and continue to capitalize on the F150 and Mustang.

[lopxtc]

And why the focus on Hybrids so much ... better yet offer more diesel options for those of use that would like to take advantage of bio-diesel. In my car club we have a MKIV TDi Jetta running biodiesel with a chipped ECU and getting 55+ MPG's. Much better than any of the hybrids and much safer to operate. Very few of the fire departments around where I live have training on how to handle hybrids in an accident.

Aaron

[REDRT]

There is many things effecting the big 3. So many factors it is mind boggling. As far as Ford and recalls they got a bad rap since the days of the pinto. There is recalls on many other cars and trucks for something or another and not just Ford.

[Jeffy-CanCon]

It's been a while in coming. I recall hearing a couple of years ago that the British magazine 'The Economist' had declared Ford to be the weakest of the Big Three, and likely to be out of business by 2015.

Edit: a reference to the article http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...07/ai_n9299712

[mr.mag218]

less then 2 miles from my house is one of the plants that is going to be shutdown. its the lincoln plant, they also make gt-40's there. unfortunatley with the plant shutting down the economy around here is really gonna go to crap.

[SCpoloRicker]

Japanese is old and busted. Korean and Chinese is the new hotness.

/coming soon to a Wal-Mart near you!

[RapidTransit]

Remember when we were calling it the big 2.5? Lets not forget Chrysler almost went under. Ford dosn't bring much to the table with its diesel trucks. Mercury and Licoln are a joke, isn't a Cougar supposed to be an upscale Mustang? Then theres the mustang, using an expensive DOHC 4.6L mod motor, they need pushrods, for overal simplicity and lower manufacturering costs. Hell in the next couple of years Toyotas V8 for the Lexus is being bumped up to 5L from 4.6L. I could go on and on all day. But I'll conclude this post on this:

Number One Job at Ford, Quality; Number Two... Puting out the fire.

[grEnAlEins]

Japanese is old and busted. Korean and Chinese is the new hotness.

/coming soon to a Wal-Mart near you!

Korean is a new hotness, and China is comming into the US market; but, with little competition in the Chineese market untill fairly recently I am betting that there is minimal quality control. I forsee another Yugo (not that I seriously expect anybody to know what I'm talking about, especially people my age. Any former Yugo owners know what I mean though). After awhile quality will improve I guess eventually China will rule the foriegn car market. If the Chineese take too much bussiness from GM we will just terif them into the ground, or nearly so.

As for Ford, now the whole company, as opposed to just the vehicles, is
Found
On
Road
Dead.

The labor unions cant be helping the situation, but I bet that their detriment is over-exagerated. While they do probably play a sizable role, it is really the company's fault that they dont do enough bussiness. As Ford rolls oput of town, Honda or Toyota might roll in and absorb the labor surplus in the area. The economy of "Ford dependant" areas will decline in the short to mid term, but down the line jobs will find people in need of work. It may take awhile, there is still not a full recovery from the colapse of the steel industry, but in time, the economy will fix itself.

[Lohman446]

Remember when we were calling it the big 2.5? Lets not forget Chrysler almost went under. Ford dosn't bring much to the table with its diesel trucks. Mercury and Licoln are a joke, isn't a Cougar supposed to be an upscale Mustang? Then theres the mustang, using an expensive DOHC 4.6L mod motor, they need pushrods, for overal simplicity and lower manufacturering costs. Hell in the next couple of years Toyotas V8 for the Lexus is being bumped up to 5L from 4.6L. I could go on and on all day. But I'll conclude this post on this:

Number One Job at Ford, Quality; Number Two... Puting out the fire.

Your nuts? Ford trucks don't bring much to the table in diesels? I see... all those International big trucks you see running down the road that are using Powerstrokes are not competetive in the big market? "In a few years Toyota...", yeh... point being? Theres a lot of things that will happen eventually. As to the Mustang, it is not meant to be a supercar, its meant to cut some corners in manufacturing so people can afford it. The cougar being an upscale Mustang? In what generation?

Not a great Ford fan, they make me a lot of money though. There not that bad of a vehicle.

[RapidTransit]

Compared to the Duramax or the Cummins diesel, the Powerstroke dosn't have much on them but when it comes to gas burning, Ford is the better of the 2.

I don't think China's Cherry auto is gonna make great strides over here, crash tests conducted in Europe proved a head on collision at 40MPH Fatal as in the cabin completly crushed, plus poor build quality, and total design knockoffs from cars made 10 years ago just adds more fuel to the fire.

[Coralis]

I dont understand why the american automakers havent figured this out yet but most americans want a car that isnt completely wore out and needing to be replaced by the time you finish paying for it.