Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Thursday, April 26, 2018

If You Want to Buy a Car from Ford, You'll Soon Be Shit Out of Luck

Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it will shed most of its North American car lineup as part of broad plan to save money and make the company more competitive in a fast-changing marketplace.

The changes include getting rid of all cars in the region during the next four years except for the Mustang sports car and a compact Focus crossover vehicle, CEO Jim Hackett said as the company released first-quarter earnings.

The decision, which Hackett said was due to declining demand and profitability, means Ford will no longer sell the Fusion midsize car, Taurus large car, CMax hybrid compact and Fiesta subcompact in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
There was a time in the `90s when the Taurus was the best-selling car in the country, though that was skewed a little because Ford was selling them to rental companies, which Honda and Toyota weren't doing.

I'll bet that Honda and Toyota will continue to be happy to sell cars to those who want them.

9 comments:

AC2 usn said...

If gas rises to $4 a gallon, trucks will not sell. Hope Ford is reading the tea leaves correctly.

AC2 usn

Comrade Misfit said...

Some bleeding-over of the Yemeni Civil War and we could very well see that.

CenterPuke88 said...

Yea, this is NOT a well considered move. Ford is switching to production of the vehicles that produce more revenue, in the context of being sold for a higher profit. That will work in the short term, but the rising cost of new vehicles is already creating monstrosities like an 84 month (yep, 7 year) loan. With the longest standard warranty running 5/60,000, and the most common being 3/36,000, a 7 year loan is insane. Buyers will be upside down for at least 4 or 5 years, an facing maintaining an out of warranty vehicle for at least a year or two. Additionally, as the loan period extends, the savings per month get eaten by the increasing interest rates.

I wonder what happened to the institutional memory of the early and mid-70’s? While GM and Ford will have international designs to shift to the U.S. if a gas crisis hits, they won’t be Federalized quickly. The Asian makers will keep producing small and inexpensive cars, and the European brands will happily take the sedan market...getting back in after you quit is not as easy as you might think.

B said...

Most car companies don't make much money on sedans, as hey have to mark 'em down in order to sell them. Lots of makers sell tiny, cheap cars just to make the CAFE numbers.

Reading carefully, there won't sell SEDANS, only crossovers (and limited versions of those) and trucks (Trucks make something like 60% of ford's profit)....They are gonna only sell those items that are in demand.

Not sure how they will make CAFE standards that way though. Perhaps they think Trump will eliminate 'em?

PJ said...

You really have to take a hard look at your business model if 60% of your profits come from trucks and you are not anticipating fuel prices climbing to profit killing levels. Could it be they've thrown in the towel trying to compete with Honda, Toyota and the Korean sedans? It's very shortsighted but typical make money now mentality of US companies. I suspect GM is in the same situation. I see Ford going the way of other top US brands and will just be putting their oval on cars made by someone else.

In regards to the cost of trucks these days aren't most of those leased? I don't see the avg Joe financing $60k on a truck but I have underestimated the avg Joe before.

w3ski said...

Cracks me up. Wasn't it "Henry Ford" that started all this "gotta have car" crap, to begin with?
Now they are quitting cars?
"What a world, what a world"
w3ski

Anonymous said...

it's not that people aren't buying cars.

it's that people can't afford the cars and Ford doesn't want to drop the prices on them.

B said...

No, they don't seem to want sedans:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/car-technology/a20076013/ford-sedans-fusion-focus-canceled/

Anonymous said...

I have never understood the concept of the sedan