Posted on 06/28/2006 11:23:14 AM PDT by george76
Ford Motor Co. shares took a hit Wednesday, pressured as Standard & Poor's pushed the automaker's credit rating deeper into junk status...
At last check, shares of the second-biggest U.S. car manufacturer were down 13 cents, or 2%, at $6.41 -- just 3 cents above their lowest level in nearly 13 years.
The ratings agency downgraded $151 billion in Ford debt by one notch, to a B+ rating, and thus put the rating four levels into speculative-grade territory, with a negative outlook.
"Notwithstanding its multiyear plan to turn around the performance of its North American automotive operations, " S&P said, "we expect the company's financial profile to weaken further during 2006 -- a period when the U.S. economy and U.S. light-vehicle sales are robust."
In January, Ford detailed its "Way Forward" restructuring plan, a centerpiece of which is the planned closure of 14 plants by 2012 and the cutting of as many as 30,000 jobs, as the automaker aims at improving its product lineup and slashing costs.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
GM and Ford have dug their own graves. Let it serve as an example for other companies.
Amen and preach on! History's graveyard is full of 'indispensable' men...and companies.
First, on the cost side...
Ford will likely threaten a UAL bankruptcy type move.
UAL got rid of much of their longterm union pension/health care obligations to become competitive with other low cost airlines.
GM is doing buyouts; my guess is that Ford will do something similar.
Second, on the revenue side...Ford needs to listen to their customers. IMHO.
At car shows, there are few to no executives willing to meet their past and future customers. I know that shows are boring, but that is where their customers are.
Dealers tell me that Ford does not listen to them much , either.
all good points.
I'll keep an open mind buying my next car, but I'll also remember the HUGE repair and maintenance cost differential that has been in favor of my Taurus over my Camry.
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What? You are actually going to look at facts, don't you know decisions of this sort are supposed to be made on a purely emotional basis and never to go against the current fashion? You probably have never even owned any designer jeans. Are you some sort of iconoclast? What is it that you are trying to erase?
I know of no one pretending anything -nor do I know what impact if any the AFA sponsored boycott is having. Your plea for boycott equality sounds nice regardless how irrelevant it is...
Well, a "minivan platform" isn't necessarily worse than a "car platform", though in this case it was for GM - the U-body platform for the Rendezvous was derived from a car platform - the 80s-early 90s Chevy Celebrity / Buick Century.
Not a good starting point.
The Highlander is derived from the Camry platform, which is also the platform for the Sienna. Actually there are quite a few minivans on car platforms... so what was a "minivan platform" may be no worse than a car platform. Of course, with a crossover or minivan, handling will be considerably worse than for the car. That's basic physics. But if you start from a good platform....
GM should never have used the U-body for the Rendezvous, you're right... the Rendezvous always was a half-hearted effort that thankfully is going away soon....
There are plenty of them floating around here condemning Ford and saying they will buy GM/Toyota/Honda/Nissan/etc instead rather than support a company doing this... while neglecting that they all do it...
AFA claims to be winning based on lower sales at Ford and decreased stock price. However, the stock has at worst followed the same glidepath it has been on since well before the boycott. Sales have dropped slightly, though if you look at sales, SUV sales are down, but car sales are up quite significantly. I wonder if there could possibly be other factors involved there? I mean, why would someone rather buy a 30+mpg sedan rather than a 18mpg truck? Oh, yeah....
I *LIKE* to go against the current fashion. :)
If I can buy a 1 year old Taurus for $12,000 and get a 6 year warranty on it (the recent generations of Taurus actually have good reliability records, btw) rather than spend $21,000 for a new Camry with a 3 year warranty or $19,000 for a 1 year old Camry with a 6 year warranty, I won't mind being unfashionable.... :) Its just transportation. Then I can buy more GE stock. :P
Pride goeth before a fall....
Dodges and Chryslers are not, for the most part, mechanically identical. Higher quality and cost parts are used on Chrysler products.
I reckoned some suckers had to still be buying the products.
Are you suggesting DCX would actually do something like buy a lower cost EGR valve for a Chrysler than a Dodge, when the engines and transmissions are identical designs? Do you realize the logisitical nightmare this would cause? I can understand there being a difference in trim components and even suspension tuning, but not powertrain
Besides, it is the Dodge that ended up with the higher rating....
Of course, on the V6 versions of the same cars, you get the exact opposite effect....
Ford forgot its base for a political agenda...
Care to explain why someone would be a sucker for buying a car when you can't show any statistically significant difference in reliablity between it and one priced thousands more?
Sure, my 98 Camry didn't depreciate as fast as my 97 Taurus. But the difference in blue book value is now less than half what the difference in initial price was. If a car starts at $20k and depreciates to $15k, it has lost only 25% of its value. If it starts at $16k and depreciates to $11k, it has lost 31% of its value. Sounds worse... until you realize the cost is the same.
The Taurus cost $3000 less than the Camry. It now is worth just $1300 less. So the Camry is worth 50% more - but the Taurus still has had less depreciation. It also has cost about $2500 less to maintain and repair.
When you consider the total savings so far, I could buy another 98 Camry easily just on the savings.... Doesn't sound like you have to be a sucker...
It ain't gonna happen this time, too many large companies are just years away from the same fate. Ford should die it's rightful death if it can't get things under control.
If the unions hang tough, Ford and GM may be forced to follow the lead of UAL into bankruptcy court to get the judge to void the previous contracts.
Quotations about cars and those who love them (or hate them).
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