You can't blame ford, they only built what the people wanted and were buying. The suv isn't dead yet, ford is still selling alot of the crossover suv's like, the escape and edge and people will allways need trucks. People are just shocked right now with these gas prices.
Not surprising. It's going to take a while before Ford can even think about turning a profit. A lot of painful restructuring has to take place to put Ford in a position to compete profitably in this environment.
It's funny, though, that this situation could have been avoided if Ford didn't rest on its laurels thinking truck and SUV sales would be sustained on into the future.
That isn't true, ford started making crossover suv's in 01 with the escape and they built the fusion before gas prices went up. Toyota is also effected by the higher gas prices, so it's just not a ford thing. Ford is only building 2 regular suv's, the explorer and exdedition and the explorer is going crossover. Ford is changing it's truck line up, they;ll have the super duty, F-150, F-100 and the ranger, a truck for everyones needs. They are also bringing back a manly suv, the bronco with solid axles and removable top to go head to head with the wrangler. It will be built on the F-100's plateform. The gas prices have hit everyone, the airlines are fixing to go bankrupt, it's a national crisis, not just a ford thing. Ford is lucky that they have a large pool of european and aisin products to drawl from. The experts say ford is in better shape than most to weather this storm. It gets on my nerves, with all the ford forums I belong to, the ford people seem to be the first thats allways wants to dog ford or belittle them. I would feel better if some of our ford people would buy chevy's or something.
That isn't true, ford started making crossover suv's in 01 with the escape and they built the fusion before gas prices went up. Toyota is also effected by the higher gas prices, so it's just not a ford thing. Ford is only building 2 regular suv's, the explorer and exdedition and the explorer is going crossover. Ford is changing it's truck line up, they;ll have the super duty, F-150, F-100 and the ranger, a truck for everyones needs. They are also bringing back a manly suv, the bronco with solid axles and removable top to go head to head with the wrangler. It will be built on the F-100's plateform. The gas prices have hit everyone, the airlines are fixing to go bankrupt, it's a national crisis, not just a ford thing. Ford is lucky that they have a large pool of european and aisin products to drawl from. The experts say ford is in better shape than most to weather this storm. It gets on my nerves, with all the ford forums I belong to, the ford people seem to be the first thats allways wants to dog ford or belittle them. I would feel better if some of our ford people would buy chevy's or something.
What in the hell are you talking about ? 2009 is the final production year for the Ranger.
Geeze just how many times must you be reminded, before it finally sinks in
The problem is production numbers, not really model lineup. Ford has relied on F-150 and SUV sales for a long time to provide the brunt of it's profit. Ever wonder how dealers could knock $10k off a Ford SUV and still turn a profit? Those were the money makers, and while gas prices were still low-moderate Ford was churning them out like mad. They didn't forecast a downturn in demand for gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs and thought that they would be able to keep churning them out and selling them and making money. That obviously wasn't the case.
It's easy to get mad at Ford because they always seem to make some monumental blunder somewhere with their operations. Not forecasting the rising cost of fuel and its impact on demand for vehicles is one of those.
This is a situation that could have been avoided if Ford's economists said, "If oil prices continue to rise at this rate, coupled with increasing global political tensions, demand for truck-based vehicles will decrease while demand for smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles will increase. We should consider restructuring production plans, focus more R&D into improved fuel economy and alternative energy technologies, and develop strategic plans to cope with the rising cost of oil and the consumer's demand for more fuel efficient vehicles and alternative energy vehicles."
The only way to succeed in business is to act, not react. Right now Ford is scrambling to react, and it's a mess.
They'll survive, I don't doubt that, but it's going to hurt really bad for a while. Then you can only hope that 20 years from now they've learned their lessons and operate like they should have been for the past 20 years.
What in the hell are you talking about ? 2009 is the final production year for the Ranger.
Geeze just how many times must you be reminded, before it finally sinks in
Actually he is correct - The ranger has extended production.
Also there will be an F-100, F150 and Superduty only. the days of the 250's and 350's are over for the time being.
It will be nice to see the euro focus and fiesta over here. I'd most definatly buy either for my Daily Driving commute. I currently have a jeep cherokee with 200k on it and plan on waiting for those two before i buy a daily driver again
They say hindsight is always 20/20.
You do realize that if what you said about Ford was true: "...they always seem to make some monumental blunder somewhere with their operations..." that they would not have been in business for the last 105 years. The fact that they've survived this long should be worthy of praising their business sense. Sure, they've made some mistakes - as do all businesses - but they've made far more "correct" choices than bad ones.
I'm sorry Red05bullitgt, I didn't read down to where it was explained to you by another posted. I jumped the gun so to speak, I am sorry, I usally don't get so defensive, but I belong to a ford truck forum and the ranger surviving is all thats been talked about for the last month and ford up and comming truck line up. I thought the ranger surviving was common knowledge by now, however, I guess everyone doesn't sleep, eat and drink ford 24 hours a day like I do, I'm a ford nut, I bleed ford blue ha ha. Blue oval news is a good site to keep up to date on what ford is doing, check it out some time. Once again I'm sorry for jumping the gun before reading all the posts.
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