Ford temporary plant reductions

[Mr_Q]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060819/D8JJEBRO0.html

Mainly truck and SuV market. Not sure how they can claim to be "surprised". Gas has been climbing for the last two years and has been high for even longer.

Still, this always sucks and I hope they can get a plan of action going that works for all.

Amazing the difference though between Ford USA and Ford UK. Over there their cars are immensely popular and even have more "tuner" variants and they are making money. Course they sell only the smaller cars over there, not trucks and SuVs.

 

[shooterm1]

Amazing the difference though between Ford USA and Ford UK. Over there their cars are immensely popular and even have more "tuner" variants and they are making money.

Ford should have been importing their high performance Euro models here for the last 10 years and getting a gage of the US markets willingness to accept them. Makes no sense what they've done ...

Hey Henry! Its still not too late!

 

[Mr_Q]

Afraid to step on the toes of their partner company Mazda I think. Or even their own current models. Dump them I say! (the current models, except for the stang, heh)

I still think Ford has this twisted sense that Mazda is their "small sized, performance inspired, higher priced" line up.

Would people buy a $30,000 Focus RS over here? If it was badged as a Ford? That's the problem. Ford fears that no one would buy a Ford if it was priced out of the Ford buyer "comfort zone".

This is why Mazda works for them so well. Lets them import/build upscale cars with higher prices and not have to make excuses for the badging. People will happily pay $30,000 for a loaded Mazda 6, because it's a Mazda. :\

 

[shooterm1]

Would people buy a $30,000 Focus RS over here? If it was badged as a Ford? That's the problem. Ford fears that no one would buy a Ford if it was priced out of the Ford buyer "comfort zone".

Yep, I'm afraid that you are correct there ...

once again, foolish marketing decisions trump superior engineering ///

 

[stanmckinney]

I looked at a 2007 Focus today for my daughter. Doesn't have an input for an ipod. What does it take to wake Ford up. All the competition has the inputs for the youth market. Maybe that's why there's a $2,500 rebate on the 2007 Focus and nothing on vehicles such as the Nissan Versa. Small details will kill you.
Ford is asleep at the wheel.

 

[351CJ]

The problem with production cuts is that the Japanese & Korean brands keep upping production and permanently take away market share from Ford. Ford's market share has dropped by close to 10 points in the last 10 years, not good.

As Stan just said, Ford keeps shooting themselves in the foot by not having features and functions most consumers now take for granted. Ford seems still stuck in a marketing mentality of making the customers buy a larger, more expensive model if they want all the features. Unfortunately for Ford, this strategy no longer works.