Posted on 10/02/2007 9:58:30 AM PDT by decimon
DETROIT - Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales plummeted 21 percent in September as the automaker saw a steep drop-off in car sales, according to results released Tuesday.
Ford's car sales dropped 39 percent compared with last September, while its truck sales were down 5 percent. The automaker said a 62 percent reduction in sales to rental car fleets partly was to blame. Ford has been trying to cut back on rental sales, which can hurt brand image and profits.
Other automakers also were expected to report lackluster sales for the month, as jittery consumers put off big-ticket purchases in reaction to the credit crunch, high gas prices and the troubled housing market. Wall Street analysts predicted overall sales would be down 4 percent for the month.
The Associated Press reports unadjusted figures, calculating the percentage change in the total number of vehicles sold in one month compared with the same month a year earlier. Some automakers report percentages adjusted for sales days. There were 25 sales days last month and 26 in September 2006.
“Yet some of the highest recall rates...”
Funny - its the Honda Civic that has been the real recall queen lately.... The Focus has actually been pretty recall-free since its disasterous start....
Nice try.... :)
I’d love for you to have to deal with the cr** customer service Toyota and Honda have around here.
You can buy one here stripped down for $8988 including a lifetime powertrain warranty...
It seems unwise for a company to be seen as pandering to homosexuals. Now, I'm not saying it would be wise to be seen as bashing homosexuals. The smart move appears to be simply to avoid the debate altogether.
Like Toyota is doing?
“Ford is so clueless about what people want that they decided to switch from having iPod interfaces in their cars to Microsoft Zune interfaces.”
Spktyr,
Surely you know that the Sync system Ford is installing is iPod compatible, no? The only one it doesn’t control is the Shuffle, though it does accept input. Just no voice activated control - you have to use the Shuffle’s buttons to control it.
The reviewer here plugged in his 80GB iPod and it worked fine.
Personally, this sounds better to me than an iPod-only capable system.
For the 2008 Focus, here are all the Media Players the system can connect with and control... it can accept just about anything through its auxiliary input jack, but this is what it can connect with and control:
Apple iPod Mini
Apple iPod Nano
Apple iPod Nano G2
Apple iPod Video
Archos 104 MP3
Archos AV500
Archos Gmini 402
Cowon iAudio U2
Cowon iAudio6
Creative Labs MuVo TX FM
Creative Labs Zen Micro Photo
Creative Labs Zen Nano Plus
Creative Labs Zen Sleek Photo
Creative Labs Zen Vision M
iRiver Clix
iRiver Clix Gen2
iRiver H10
iRiver T30
Microsoft Zune
MobiBLU DHH-200
Philips GoGear Jukebox HDD1630
Philips GoGear SA9200
Samsung YP-T8Z
Samsung YP-Z5AB
SanDisk Sansa c250
SanDisk Sansa e140
SanDisk Sansa e270
SanDisk Sansa m250
Sony PSP
Super Talent Mega Screen
Toshiba Gigabeat S
FYI - I just purchased a Nissan Frontier and am very happy.
Check ot this Badass Camper....
http://www.maximog.com/
comes with it’s own UAV!!
These are cool too...
http://www.earthroamer.com/index.html
I WANT ONE!!!
Yeah, but that’s a regional thing. Ford corporate is STILL screwing people around all over the world over this issue.
They made the intake manifold out of plastic and metal. The coolant runners like to break/crack (for no good reason and without tampering) at the point where plastic and metal meet, releasing coolant. This affects all pre-99 Fords with the 4.6L SOHC V8 engine - but it usually didn’t happen until the vehicle had just exited warranty. Usually before the vehicle hit 65K-90K.
Normally, it would just be a complaint about how Fords just make it out of warranty before expiring - because Ford would be within their rights to say hey, the car is out of warranty, we’re not going to pay for the repairs. But hey, if you’re a fleet operator running Crown Vics or Grand Marquis as taxis, cop cars, or the like, Ford will happily pay for the repair. If you’re not, Ford doesn’t want to hear from you. Yes, there is a recall on just the CV and GMar, and yes, it only applies to fleet operators.
Cute of them to screw the little guy over, isn’t it? There are numerous class action suits over this, which Ford has generally lost. This has been going on for 10 years now, and Ford still *refuses* to solve the problem for anyone but fleet operators, or admit that the same part number in other cars has the same problem.
Contrast that with Toyota, who had a problem with their truck V6’s blowing their left bank headgaskets. It took them a couple of years to realize that there really was a problem, address it, and then deal with the customer service issue - but when they did, they did it for everyone, not a select group. Their solution was to fit a thicker headgasket, change the replacement part available, reengineer the next generation engine, ***reimburse anyone who had had to replace their headgasket out of warranty***, and then offer an 8 year/100,000 mile additional warranty from the date of announcement on any of the affected trucks’ headgaskets.
You don’t see Ford doing that.
The word was, last I looked, that the Ford Sync system, designed and built by Microsoft (a bad idea to start with) was *only* going to be compatible with Microsoft Zunes - that they’d dropped iPod support.
The Honda recalls are usually for small things, like non-functioning lights or such.... the Ford recalls were/are for things like THE WHEELS FALLING OFF.
I have yet to see Toyota fess up for any of the numerous and widespread problems I have seen with my Camry.
I think for most people the issue isn’t that a car maker is running ads in gay magazines and media, so much as Ford is running *specifically targeted* ads in gay media instead of their normal ads.
I don’t think most people would care if they’d just ran their standard ads. What they’re running, though, can be offensive to others; the Jaguar “Care For A Partner” and Volvo “Grab This Stick Instead” campaigns were just stupid.
The best part of all is what the gay community’s reaction to them has been. According to some of my gay friends, *they* find those pandering Ford ads to be highly offensive. The message *they* get from the ads is “Buy our cars because we support gay people” instead of “buy our cars because they are superior”. And they view the ads as condescending and full of pandering... so they’re even *less* likely to buy a Ford.
check out syncmyride.com for accurate information... iPods are fully supported.
Um, like the TSBs I posted to you a thread or two back? Have you even *called* Torrance for help at all?
Several of the rural letter carriers in our area have used Tauruses ... average over 200,000 miles between trade-ins with very minimal maintenance. Best thing for a Taurus is to drive it.
One of my relatives is a trial lawyer (yeah, I know - but he’s handy sometimes) who was involved in the class action suit in 03 that forced Ford to change their “sealed for life” policy.
And before you accuse me of bias, you should know that about the only US market car makers that he hasn’t been engaged to sue at one time or another is Rolls and Ferrari. He does, however, especially like Ford because they leave so many openings and have a particularly inept legal staff.
Did you look at the Toyota? I’m kind of partial to Toyota since I have 185,000 on my ‘92 pickup.
That's why rebadging the Chinese Chery's as Chrysler's is so freakin' brilliant.
The American customer just wants an American badge on the car sold in a U.S. dealership.
Jorge is *thrilled* to be driving two "Fords." Well, that's fine. No one needs to tell her/him that he/she is driving two Mazdas.
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