Business Ford to stop selling every car in North America but the Mustang and Focus Active

yahoo business ^ | 4.25.18 | Matt Burns

[central_va]

Ford today announced it will phase out most cars it sells in North America. According to its latest financial release, the auto giant will "will transition to two vehicles" being the Mustang and an unannounced vehicle, the Focus Active, as the only traditional cars it sells in the region. Ford sees 90 percent of its North America portfolio in trucks, utilities and commercial vehicles. Citing a reduction in consumer demand and product profitability, Ford is in turn not investing into the next generation sedans. The Taurus is no more.

[JoSixChip]

Are the brake pedals on the Ford trucks still way up in the air?

The pedals are adjustable. Just push a button and they go down or up to where you like them.

[vette6387]

“I’ve read that it’s likely all American car manufacturers will stop making cars in the next few years.”

What I’ve read is that GM is 85% non-autos, Ford is 95%, and Chrysler is 97%.
The truth of the matter is that CAFE standards have ruled out the automobiles that people liked. We’ve had one Ford Explorer and two Chevrolet Avalanches. They replaced our Chevy Kingswood Estate Wagon. We’re not looking for a high-milage vehicle. We want something that can carry a payload, pull a trailer, and give a great deal of comfort and safety. In today’s “adversarial” method of driving, having basically a pickup truck-sized vehicle is a distinct advantage. Just use your turn signals and you can pretty much change lanes as you choose, while all the rice, kim-chee and kraut cars cower. For me, all GM has to do is to continue producing the Corvette!

[bigbob]

Story on Drudge says the single-family home may be a thing of the past too...

[stylin19a]

saw it this weekend in cook county...$4.10 for BP premium

[jjotto]

Plenty of small sedans around. It’s the big sedans that have disappearing sales.

[alternatives?]

“Real full-sized station wagons went away 20+ years ago,”

I always thought a 2 wheel drive SUV on a frame is nothing more than a full size station wagon with a different name.

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

Being a kid from d'Ottawa and having tried my hand at car sales at a Chrysler dealership, I just about collapsed laughing, the first time I saw a Plymouth Reliant SQ police car! The Ottawa cops and OPPall used RWD, body on frame cars as cruisers.

I kinda suspect that when the SQ we're finished with their Reliants, they just pushed, or towed them to the junk yard. Who would want to buy a used police K-car? I doubt that they could even be given away!

Of course it was the same thing with the Canadian Forces during Turd-owe Sr.'s time in office. Replacing Korean War era Jeeps, they purchased the Iltis

The CAF spec Iltis was 'powered' by a 1.7 litre 4 cylinder gasoline engine that developed a blistering 75 HP. Maximum claimed speed was a whopping 81 MPH. Of course 0-60 times were measured in hours. I'm sure the K-car 'police special' was slightly quicker.

[JoSixChip]

I learned to drive a stick on a 1980 F 150. It had a very forgiving clutch. My son bought a 2016 F150. It’s one heck of a lot nicer than the 1980 version.

I've had fords all my life, always with a clutch until this one. I have fond memories of a 1987 regular cab long bed with a strait six, it was indestructible. I now have 2017 supper cab long bed that was only available with the 10 speed trans. The ecoboost 350 six cylinder is by far the fastest truck I have ever had. Lots of power. Good mileage normal driving, but under load not so much. But it is comfortable, I feel like I am driving an articulated rig.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Is this a late April fools joke?

Ford seems to be heading for putting all its eggs in one basket, which rarely leaves a company unscathed in the long term. OK, they want to dominate the more profitable truck/SUV segments, but by abandoning the entire car market, they are setting themselves up for a financial shock if gas prices soar or if a Democrat president makes truck CAFE standards the same as cars.

This seems crazy. But what do I know? I guess Ford just is making nothing off their cars except for their captive audience of rabid Mustang fans. Sure seems short sighted and a prescription for grief to me.

[UB355]

The transit does have a passenger version

[Cvengr]

This is probably a stupid question.

Does this mean they won’t make any more Lincolns?

[jjotto]

The only body-on-frame SUVs are big and expensive, except maybe the Wrangler. All the top sellers are unibody.

[Beagle8U]

Most people drive trucks and SUVs in rural areas, and who cares what the urban liberals drive.

The liberals can sit on puke ridden seats of the subway.

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

The CPS have a goodly number of the Taurus-based ‘police Interceptor Sedans’. I believe that they have had too many problems with the Ford SUVs. They also have many F150 po-po vehicles. With the demise of a Ford police ‘car’, they may end up getting more RWD Fiats (Dodge Chargers).

[Lisbon1940]

Autos are good to get from Point A to Point B, and so are a lot of other technologies.

[roadcat]

Didn’t they get rid of station wagons and replace them with minivans and SUVs?

I think that was due to taxes and tariffs. Station wagons were heavily taxed as luxury items, while minivans and SUVs were considered to be light trucks and had a lower tax rate. That effectively killed the station wagon. It's all about taxes, which President Trump is trying to change in our favor with the tariff wars.

[rockinqsranch]

“Plenty of small sedans around. It’s the big sedans that have disappearing sales.”

Right, because that market is going to the SUV’s, and Pick up trucks.

[ully2]

But breakeven is a million and one.

[alternatives?]

I was thinking Pathfinder and 4runner but I checked and now only the 4runner has a full length frame. That is a bummer.

[jjotto]

Yep. To get BOF, the Nissan jump is up to the Armada on the PU frame.