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Ford To Stop Selling Every Car In North America But the Mustang, Focus Active (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Ford today announced it will phase out most cars it sells in North America. According to its latest financial release, the auto giant "will transition to two vehicles" -- the Mustang and an unannounced vehicle, the Focus Active, being 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 in the next generation of sedans. The Taurus is no more. The press release also talks about a new type of vehicle, though it sounds like a crossover. This so-called white space vehicle will "combine the best attributes of cars and utilities, such as higher ride height, space and versatility." Currently, Ford sells six sedans and coupes in North America: the Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, C-Max, Mustang and Taurus. This lineup hits multiple segments, from the compact Fiesta to the mid-size Focus, C-Max and Fusion to the full-size Taurus. The Mustang stands alone as the lone coupe.
No one wins because other cars just get taller to compensate. It hurts gas mileage. We need to be making cars that are lower despite Obama's demand for taller hoods on cars for pedestrian protection.
If US consumer tastes change (as they always do) Ford is toast.
I love my antiquated '94 Corolla wagon, not that it's a great car or anything (although it is), but largely because it's got a low and wide profile. Makes it fun to negotiate a curve. Who wants to drive around in a high box?
It is what it is. As for Ford and GM they're both dogs of companies that needed Govt handouts to keep being propped up. On another note, MAGA? didn't trump promise "more" productivity from both these companies. But I'm surprised they're killing the Fiesta.
Ford stops selling vehicles that consume less gas in line with new mobility taxes so only the rich can travel. Affordable vehicles wreaked havoc when the peasant population was able to leave areas with shitty abusive systems in place.
I think Honda might have been the first to do this about three decades ago when they based all their cars on just two flexible platforms. The Accord, TL, RL, TSX, Crosstour... all the same car. The smaller was the Civic and the RSX. The SUVs are similar, Pilot/MDX and CRV/RDX. They keep changing the model names to throw us off the trail, but the manufacturing is very carefully designed to minimize infrastructure, support, and design. I never figured out where the odd US models like Fit and Element fit that scheme, but they sure seemed expensive for so few units if they were unique.
There is no need to use a SlashDot sig for SEO...
Or any color as long as it's black?
They had a sedan that sold well and businesses bought in mass, but cancelled it. Bring back the Crown Vic, I can't tell todays cop cars and taxis from an uber.
In Japan almost every 6 months a new version is put on the market so consumers have something to choose from. New models look different and usually have a ton of new features. Who cares that the metal chassis is exactly the same as that of a 10 year old model?
My gf just bought a Focus and her roomate has the Focus with the racing package (RS?). I was very impressed with their cars (build quality, etc). Damn shame. Then again, I ride a motorcycle (fuck parking a car in Los Angeles.. hooray for lane splitting!), but still.
Maybe they should try calling it the "Osbourne 2". I guess it's not the same, presumably their trucks can keep them afloat as their car sales die until the new model is really out.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
You're betting the company on SUVs, and in a few years when gas prices shoot up again, you're gonna lose the company. Does anyone really believe gas prices can stay this low for forever? I think they'll shoot up again within 5 years, just when Ford has ditched all its cars that people will actually want to buy when gas is $5 a gallon.
April Fools.. was weeks ago.
Margins are low, gas is cheap. Let's cut the lower profit cars.
Fast forward several years in the future when gas prices go up and SUV sales crater... "Oh no, we have no car production to fall back on for profits".
Sure, cut the unprofitable small cars that aren't all that popular in the US, but at least leave the Fusion around... it's not a poor seller. Tesla would kill to be able to produce and sell as many Model 3's in a year that Ford does with its Fusion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy
Ford currently sells five models of sedans: Taurus, Focus RS, Fiesta, Mustang, and Focus Active. They're phasing out the first three models over the next few years, to be replaced with all new electric and hybrid models. Still spending a bit to keep the other two in production for the foreseeable future though.
A lot of unmarked cop cars still have steel wheels with those shiny silver caps in the center. Some places are getting trickier and ordering alloy wheels and very well hidden LED lights. Fuck everyone that buys a white/grey/black Explorer with blackout tint, how I am supposed to tell you from a cop?
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
That's a step in the right direction towards how I feel about Ford. If they want to make me really happy they should stop selling cars. Just sell the F-150 (the only good product they have) and leave making vehicles to those with a sense of quality.
so only the rich can travel.
because only Ford makes cars! nobody else does! wow!
To stop selling all but two cars.
To continue selling even more crossovers, SUVs, utes, pickups, trucks....
Co-incidentally, "non-cars" have much less stringent fuel economy regulations. Small passenger cars need to meet a corporate average of 45mpg, light trucks of the same physical size can get away with 37mpg.
Large passengers cars need to average 34mpg, while large trucks only need to get to 25mpg.
Didn't even know Ford made Cars.
Their masterplan is to use all the money saved by shuttering all these lines into shorting Tesla, drive down its share price and buy the company.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
They forget how the company was built. A Model T was $300 in 1925 => $4,268.42 in 2018. You can't buy a new car for triple that now.
Hopefully they start investing in technology that is the future; electric, better mpg, etc. If not, they'll probably be gone in a few years.
They only deliver to GM. Maybe Ford sees the writing on the wall.
For years, Detroit taught us small cars are cheap cars, and all small cars were cheap and not cheerful. Eventually the euros/japanese sent up small and NOT cheap cars, so that went away. Still, Detroit was able to charge 10K extra for a larger sedan for a long time. When the CUV/SUV became a thing, suddenly you could get your car super sized, be it a Q5 or Q7, or a Nissan Rogue or a Honda HR-V. At any price point, you can now get a "bigger" car. Most people will go for the larger car, at least in the US.
Where I live, I see a lot of Fusion sedans.
Going from large/mid (Taurus), mid (Fusion), small (Focus) to just small seems like an overreaction.
What happens if gas prices go up? Last time, customers shifted buying habits to more fuel-efficient sedans/smaller vehicles.
SUV/crossovers have become more efficient, I get it. But at least for now, there is a gap, and if customers want something more fuel efficient, but maybe a bit more room vs the Focus, Ford will be out of the market. Seems very short-sighted to me.
That's not what he's saying.
His claim is that affordable automobiles give peasants an out from abuse. And that making cars unaffordable will reverse that trend.
Was an Isuzu Rodeo. Honda just slapped their badge on it.
What you are describing, however, all manufacturers do.
Who'll be buying a car in 5-10 years when you can just summon one to pick you up?
Kinda like McDonald's cedes the burger business to Bob'z Burgerz and Auto Parts, in Kinnipequid, Maine?
Ford sold about 7 million units last year.
Renault sold about 10 million, Honda 5 million, GM 10 million, Volkswagen 11 million, Toyota 11 million.
Tesla sold about 100,000. If they manage to increase sales by 100 times, they'll be a real car company.
Let's look at those numbers a bit differently. Tesla investors hope that Tesla grows, of course. If Tesla does extremely well and increases sales by 20% every single year, in 50 they'll be - still not one of the top 5 automakers.
FORD:
Found On Road, Discontinued
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
I do. Streets in my city (Asunción) are awful. Lots of potholes and plenty of ill-designed and ill-placed speed bumps. When you have low quality streets, a high ride is a godsend.
-- Look to the Rose that blows about us--"Lo, Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow..."
My post was missing a word. If Tesla grows by 20% per year, every single year, then in 50 years they'll be - still far smaller than Toyota, Volkswagen, Daimler Chrysler, etc. That's how the math comes out. It's like comparing my YouTube channel to NBC or Discovery Networks.
In 100 years, they could be one of the top automakers, if they have strong growth every single year and never make a mistake.
Is it just me, or does it seem like focusing your resources and trying to get the most out as little as possible has become something of a religion for companies? I know companies have in the past re-used platforms for multiple products, the best car industry example of this is the VW Golf chassis used in over a dozen different models from 4 different makes, but it seems like literally everyone wants to do that now.
It's not just re-using underlying tech, you also see companies more often not only farm out the production of both generic components and those specific to them, but also farm out the development of even the application-specific components to the subcontractors who make them. Boeing did with the 787 Dreamliner and the end result of that was huge delays and cost overruns along with some serious doubts on their safety and quality as leaked documents show that they've bypassed their own internal quality and safety standards for schedule-related reasons.
"Why should I want to make anything up? Life's bad enough as it is without wanting to invent any more of it."
Like everything else in America Ford makes far too many choices in vehicles and sells far too many of just one. GM is basically going through the same pain over the years canceling out Oldsmobile and Pontiac and they still make far too many redundant cars. At least Ford realizes it needs to make only what the buyer is willing to buy. On the other hand, Tesla is going nowhere because most people don't care to charge their car every night just to drive to work.
I want one of those "white space vehicles". Though, to be honest, I'm not too bothered about the color...
Garry Knight
The Mustangs are dirt cheap in the US, because they are no tax worth the name on it.
No wonder they keep selling there.
I mean, it's an April Fool's gag, right? It's too absurd to be real.
You're right, of course. The last thing I did before falling asleep last night was post that. Apparently part of my brain was already asleep.
20% growth each year for 20 years would get them into the top 10 automakers, if none of the other companies grew.
The sheer idiocy of the comments here are amazing! My old crap box is great. Jaguar has great quality! Uh oh when gas prices go up. Tesla will take that market share
Itâ(TM)s pretty clear none of you know anything about the auto industry. What do I expect on this site though. Go back to wishing this was reddit and being pedantic about everything
Ford execs may be called on the carpet when gas hits $5 a gallon prices again
Yes the trucks are lighter and so can use smaller more fuel efficient engines but Ford went with turbos on most of the line
Turbos engines still have to prove that they can put in the service of a normally asperated v8 and they are always going to be more expensive to maintain
The Mustang is a somewhat impractical sports car, the coach space is small and the sills are huge.
They must be nice in states where there is not much snow and it also is not a mileage champ
Maybe the execs at Ford are throwing a tantrum because Trump stomped on their idea to move all production to Mexico?
and put that money somewhere else. Fiat-Chrysler is doing something similar. I'm thinking of divesting and moving that $$ into Tesla or Ferrari. Cheaper to buy the stock than a car from those guys.
Too bad, I'd been eyeing an electric Ford Focus but am not interested in a crossover.
In other words, they are having financial difficulties.
That's because the dollar is collapsing. DUH!
The Ford F-150 is one of the best selling models they have and they are re-introducing the Ranger.. Surely, they will keep selling Trucks?
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Did you not read the subject line before replying?
Yes, Ford is over 100 years old. The claim was that Tesla has beaten Ford. Which is ridiculous. The weather affects Ford more than Tesla does. In 100 years, Tesla might matter in the auto industry. Today, Tesla is mostly a pyramid scheme.
But April Fools was almost a month ago!
What do you mean "to stop"?
It's not like people are actually buying other cars from them anyway.
We have tried Ford cars. And they are shitty and low quality. It is so easy to blame external factors, rather than looking into your own dysfunctional structure.
How is this 'news for nerds, stuff that matters?'
This is a marketing story, not a tech story - Ford is going eliminate every consumer car but Mustang, some crossover vehicle, and trucks... big deal - I'm curious how they will meet their CAFE requirements? I thought the low-price, low-emission econo shit boxes were sold to bend the CAFE standard down to allow ford to sell Expeditions?
I remember one time ford used to force dealers to take delivery of an Escort with every Expedition they took delivery of from the factory, to ensure they met their CAFE requirements.
Ken
My first car was a 1982 GT Mustang. I of course got it used in 1995 and the odometer had flipped at least once, I suspect it may have flipped twice. Due to problems with that car and the other Fords my friends had in the mid-90's I wrote Ford off as a bad vehicle. Seriously, that one power-steering pump they put in EVERYTHING they had from about 1976ish all the way to 1999ish was something I had to change a dozen of in high-school, there were serious alternator issues from the factory from some of their higher end vehicles - they didn't put in alternators big enough to support the premium stereos and a host of other issues.
Time went on.
Toyota and Honda, which were pretty much looked down upon as "the poor people cars" when I was growing up in the 80's and 90's proved to be exactly what America needed.
Rumor has it that at some time in the 60's or 70's the Big Four got together and decided that no vehicle should make it much past 100,000 miles without need of a major repair, then about 50,000 miles after that. Turns out they were really, really good about making sure that was the case.
AMC cratered. Chrysler turned out trash, and GM overall wasn't all that bad besides some electrical issues for quite a while, while sticking to that 100,000 mile thing. The fact they were working with both Toyota and Isuzu off and on is probably what put them a little ahead on quality.
Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, other Japanese vehicles a few European cars, and all of the sudden Korean cars rightfully began to eat into the American market place at levels a few cute little Beetles running around in the past never could.
Ford - to their credit - was the first American car company to pull their heads out of their asses and decide quality mattered in about 2005. We saw a new Ford and by God over time they became impressive.
First of all Chrysler shit the sheets, isn't actually American anymore having changed hands twice in Europe THEN they took the government bail-out.
GM pissed all over the American way pretty much being the welfare queen in the bailout. I believe in a free market, open trade, and voting with your dollars. The GM federal bailout to me was the equivalent of a blatantly rigged election. I can't look at GM vehicles anymore without thinking that vehicle was the victor of a rigged election. I voted with my dollars, and so did most the rest of America and we voted for someone else. GM should have failed or sold out - but not to tax payers.
Ford on the other hand only took a little bailout and paid it back quickly - that was almost a formality from what I understand and very political. Sure Henry Ford was pro-Hitler and a lot of what has come out of Fords past as pure evil, but I really do think the modern company, over-all, is turning over a new leaf. It's not - not-evil, don't get me wrong, I think most big corporations are big beast that have sold their souls (they do legally count as people after all) and Ford's no different, but at least they've stopped being tyrants and have started to do their jobs - which is sell good cars that people want them. I can forgive the Hitler thing - after all one of my cars is a Volkswagen.
Modern Ford cars are awesome - except for their inexplicable horrific polished-turd stereo systems.
I've got a Transit Connect Wagon. I absolutely love it, and my wife does too. My dad, who's very critical of mini-vans even said "Heck, that's a useful van you can drive for the family and you don't even have to put your balls in your wife's purse to do it". The thing gets better mileage than the data-sheet says. I can just hit 30 MPG on a flat highway with low traffic in good weather. It's not rated for that. For a seven passenger vehicle it's super impressive. The only thing I really have to complain about is it has a fucking MICROSOFT stereo with all the joys of running Windows entails. I occasionally have to shut down the van and disconnect the battery so voice recognition and Bluetooth will work again.
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..the market is filled with morans and their brokers who only care about commissions.
..the market is filled with morans and their brokers who only care about commissions.
The Morans are a fine people.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
You're = you are ...not your...
So you don't like learning then, suit yourself.
If you did, you could go through that post and tell which were which.
Since you won't, I'll just point out this little bit mentioned in that post.
But the Model 3 will have a much lower margin, perhaps only 10%
Now in the same way that zero is less than 10.
10 is also greater than zero.
The Focus RS is so under rated it's a shame.
Our private and public debt is why we can't have nice things anymore :(
You miss the point, it's still a Ford.
Even Saleen mustangs and GTs are still Fords.
A former Ford owner.
You have to hand it to Ford - That is some out of the box thinking to buck the trend toward electric vehicles, and double down on C02
No Taurus faurus!
I have a theory. It could be a Canyonero:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI_Jl5WFQkA
Or it could be a Homer Bubble Car:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_Brother,_Where_Art_Thou%3F
I mean really? It will "combine the best attributes of cars and utilities, such as higher ride height, space and versatility." Yes! And it will have a bubble canopy, 6 cup holders, and it will play La Cucaracha when you open the door...
What will police departments do? Crown vic was their go to car. Black people around the country know it well.
So do white people, shut up.