Ford to Halt Production at 10 Plants

ap ^ | 8/19/06 | AP

[KYGrandma]

In the past, Consumers Reports have rated all domestic cars as terrible. They use one vehicle to test drive and the rest is rated by consumers. Who only report the bad things. Consumers Reports and J. P. Powers are worthless in picking the best or worst products.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

The article mentions the rate of decrease of the market share the Big Three have held and the rate of increase of Japanese makes. That means other countries are producing more and thus employing more, not just coincidental with our pending layoffs. Incompetence and arrogance at Ford helped this along, in lock-step with the idea and legislation that it doesn't matter where workers work, if the company is based in the states it will be good for everyone.

Ford should have been focusing more time, money, and energy on developing and marketing models that Americans were buying from Japan, stepping out of social policy, and fixing the problems in their own house (union benefits, pensions and horribly mismanaged budgets).

The point of my point is that there will be high layoffs, but that we are supposed to be taking this as good news economically, because when someone becomes unemployed, they invariably move up the ladder.

[1rudeboy]

The article mentions the rate of decrease of the market share the Big Three have held and the rate of increase of Japanese makes. That means other countries are producing more and thus employing more, not just coincidental with our pending layoffs.

No it does not (necessarily) mean that at all, since foreign car makers manufacture in the U.S., and continue to expand their operations here.

[Malsua]

There are a lot of uneducated bashing of Ford here.

I drove Fords for YEARS. They pinned their profits on Explorers because it was low hanging fruit. Now they may go out because of it. My last "big three" went 165k miles before the tranny blew. My last "rice mobile" went 280k before I sold it for a grand to some kid who is still driving it.

I am not anti-Ford, I just know that the last Ford I owned got shitty gas mileage and needed to be at the dealer every 15k miles or so for some issue. After it started costing 500+ bills per trip, I rid myself of it.

[staytrue]

I just rented a ford focus z24. Excellent engine, handling and visibilty. Terrible ergonomics and the sheet metal was tin cannish. An excellent car to rent, I would never own one.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

And we manufacture our cars in other countries. Unless you have the stats to know who's up and who's down, we can assume it's about a wash, with 20,000 to 30,000 layoffs coming our way.

[Rome2000]

The Focus is great for about 50K miles. Then all kinds of neat stuff happens like your motor mounts breaking(WTF?), Your AC system leaking, 2 of your power window cables snapping, the battery terminal cable burning through and the fuel pump going belly up.

Every Ford I have ever owned sucked, they engineer failure into their parts so they can keep ther dealerships in business.

Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch.

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

An excellent car to rent, I would never own one.

Me neither. A new Focus may be fun to drive, but who knows when it could be Found On Road Dead ..

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

..and besides after 30K miles I wouldn't want to bother having it
Fixed Or Repaired Daily.

[EEDUDE]

"but for those of us who live in the SnowyBoondocks... we have no choice."

Yeah. Same here. Got a 4WD Toyota truck (93).

It's the only way I can get out of my 1000 ft driveway at certain times of year.

You should see all the 4X4's on the used car lots in town!

[null and void]

soccer mom's driving tanks on flat Phoenix roads always crack me up

Especially the cute way they slow waaaayyyyy down to go over a RR crossing...

[calex59]

Good point. Ford used to be the leader in the small pickup market with Ranger. Now it ranks well behind Toyota, Nissan and Chevrolet.

Yep, the Ranger was a great truck back in the day! I stil have a 1994 4wd with 5 sp transmission that has 164,000 miles on it, burns virtually no oil between changes, has only had one thing go wrong with it and that was the clutch at 140,000 miles. It still gets 26 MPG on the freeway. It is sad they have let the Ranger go to hell along with their other products.

[Petruchio]

[calex59]

zarf said: soccer mom's driving tanks on flat Phoenix roads always crack me up

null and void said: Especially the cute way they slow waaaayyyyy down to go over a RR crossing.

The reason a lot of soccer moms drive SUVs is because of the death of the station wagon. It is difficult to fit two kids into the back seat of a small car when you have to strap them into a car seat, then when you add two or three more if you car pool and a small car doesn't cut it. SUVs, some of them, offer the room to haul lots of children comfortably, this goes for mini vans too but they died out also, at least to a large extent.

They probably don't need the 4 wd but some companies don't offer a 2 wd SUV, some do, some don't.

Making fun of someone's vehicle choice is disrespectful and also goes against freedom of choice, which isn't enumerated in the constitution but is still a freedom we enjoy. Don't want to buy an SUV? Don't. Are SUVs a bad choice for many? Maybe, but if so the many will find out about it eventually and stop buying them.

Your opinion on what vehicle to buy is just that, an opinion for YOU, and not applicable to everyone. I am sure there are many soccer moms who read and post on FR. If they want the advice of automobile experts such as yourself I am sure they will ask because surely everyone in the US has heard of you two major gearheads, correct?

[mysterio]

Every Ford I've ever had has been a great car. I'm in the market again in a year or two. Hope that they either put out a super efficient diesel or a hybrid with a long lasting battery, because those are what I'm going to be looking for. The escape hybrid is something I'm interested in, but I don't want a $4,000 battery replace after four years.

[null and void]

#1 I didn't make fun of the vehicle choice, only the driving thereof. To wit: Being afraid to drive over a little bump in a vehicle designed to do rough off roading.

#2 The station wagon didn't die. It was murdered. Station wagons count against an auto maker's CAFE requirements as a passenger car. SUV's don't. They go in the truck bin.

[Hacksaw]

I still think the biggest problem US automakers face begins with a "U".

[TheOracleAtLilac]

the gay (bendover) will end the day stoopid Billy Ford is ousted.

[TheOracleAtLilac]

Toyota, Honda, Isuzu

Isuzu doesn't make any vehicles for this market....FYI

[Malsua]

Isuzu doesn't make any vehicles for this market....FYI

They stopped making the Assender?