C'mon buddy?!?
Posted on 05/04/2018 6:49:15 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Ford's new CEO, Jim Hackett, just announced a bold strategic move for America's most enduring automaker: abandoning the car business. Hackett completely reversed former CEO Alan Mulally's full-line strategy to focus on trucks and SUVs. A 3 percent jump in Ford's stock price validated Hackett's decision, but that adrenaline shot could be short-lived. Jettisoning automobiles may prove fatal for Ford, leaving the market to GM and foreign producers.
Bowing to short-term shareholder pressures that felled predecessor Mark Fields, Hackett is undoing 115 years of Ford's automobile legacy. Unlike General Motors CEO Mary Barra, labelled a "car gal" for her 38 years in the business, Hackett has no experience in automobiles. He comes from thirty years of making furniture and most recently as interim athletic director at the University of Michigan.
Founder Henry Ford didn't create the automobile, but he turned it into "every person's vehicle" in launching the Model T in 1908. In 1913 he introduced the first moving assembly line. The following year he offered a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, doubling wages to $5 per day to enable his workers to enjoy an adequate standard of living and be able to purchase the cars they produced.
That rich history may seem irrelevant to today's global world. Not so. When Alan Mulally became CEO in 2006, he fully embraced Ford's heritage and restored its focus on automobiles, insisting Ford could make money in a full range of cars by being cost competitive with foreign automobile plants in the South....
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Ha! Your post reminded me of the guy, a couple of decades ago, said his Mercedes was the best car he ever owned, even though he had to replace the transmission four times.
There is subjective, and there is objective. :)
In addition to being fuel efficient, roomy, easy to get in and out of, and cheap, it was a great vehicle for chauffering very elderly relatives and their accompanying gear. I loved that car.
Not for nothing, but did this guy ax the EV cars too? I can see that EVs will probably replace the small car before long. Lots of new money spent on the tech, and the tech is coming around quickly.
You’d think the boards of these companies would know better. Whatever. Nothing lasts forever (beside the love of God).
C'mon buddy?!?
“You’re complaining about a 14 year old Truck having broken parts..
Geez you’re a tough customer.”
I have a 2001 Toyota Tundra with 260,000 miles. Everything still works.
This is unbelievable to me.
I know technically it’s reversible, but not likely soon, unless reversed REAL soon before too much re-tooling and un-tooling happens.
In many ways I don’t blame them - “trucks” are not subject to the same rules “cars” are, which is partly why “SUVs” came into being at all. Don’t know why the feds don’t put more rules on trucks, but here we are.
OTOH, I want to see the numbers for Fusion and even some of the Focus sales. I can’t believe their sales aren’t tops for them.
This is a sad, sad day no matter what.
But then, they killed Lincoln with the ugliness, too much “SUV” and abandoning the Town Car.
“No smoke breaks, either.”
Yes, but you could smoke at your desk.
L
My Wife and I had two PT Cruisers years ago. Worked great for my elderly Father and Aunt when I took them places.
My 2005 Silverado has 215 K and has at least 100k to go.
So uts been really good to me.
Anyone got an idea what vehicle can come close to a Ford E350XL?
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Yes. Get a 2014 Ford E350XL. I think the last year they made them was 2014.
I have a 2005 Nissan Xterra. Love it. Wanted a brand new one, but they quit making them in 2015. So I found a good used one some 300 miles away. But it only had 10,500 miles on it. So I bought it.
Look around - you will find what you need.
Trucks are unusually expensive. I think someone ran data once, and trucks had appreciated in sales price by 40% more than cars. Too many suckers I guess so willing to pay so much for them.
The last GM product I owned was a 1994 Pontiac Grand Am with a three speed automatic transmission. I bought it new for my wife, have four miles on it when we got through test driving it. Before I had 20K miles on it I was on my third set of brakes and the dealer was telling me I needed new rotors. The dash squeaked like Styrofoam rubbing together to the point of driving you insane. All these issues were brought to the attention of the dealer and they “worked” on them allegedly.
My wife complained it wouldn’t hold the road when wet and I said let me drive it on a skiff of snow one day. She took my old 1987 Nissan 2 door Sentra which went through snow like a mountain goat. I made a slow ponderous turn in the Grand Am, the speedometer wasn’t even registering speed and I was off the brakes and gas and I was suddenly making the turn sideways.
After my third trip to the dealer for the incessant dash rattles and squeaks I took it to the nearest Honda dealer and traded it for a Civic and told my wife to kick me in the butt if I ever mentioned buying another GM product. The fact that they are now Government Motors makes my hatred of them even worse.
I currently drive an 06 Mercury Grand Marquis that just rolled over 96K miles. Biggest issue with it has been air bag sensors going bad. I have replaced the seat belts on both front seats to the tune of $300 each. Otherwise it’s been a champ.
My first car was a new ‘67 Mustang Fastback, 289, w/fold-down rear seat & Candy Apple Red.
I saved from my very high paying HS job...and it was a fun car...for a while. A real “chick” car but pure junk.
Within 2 years I traded at Hollywood VW/Porsche for a ‘69 Bug and never looked back.
Key word being "Toyota."
Before that I had a Tacoma with almost 300k miles with hardly any repairs other than maintenance. They just keep on going.
plus the little CUVs are basically small cars
the c-max is a B size vehicle that gets 42 MPG highway
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