Ford, an American obsession….with stupidity
As car companies try and force us to love the SUV or the new latest greatest gas guzzler called the “crossover vehicle”, Ford has become the epitomy of everything that is wrong with American Car makers.
They just don’t get it, they never will, case in point right here… Where this week if you listened to the radio you heard an ad trying to tell us to contact our local politicians about a law that might GET THIS! (it played on WDEL a few times) to increase gas mileage requirement for Trucks. Can you believe it? Gas at $3 a gallon and they run and ad that villafies congress in their quest to increase mpg in pick ups and “big vehicle” I heard the commercial and short of offering a can of dip and a shotgun you might they should have had dixie playing in the background and should have announced where the next lynching will be….
the great thing is though that Ford and their ilk, don’t have too get it, the executives are loaded and they can just whine to congress about how restricting they are being. Wahhhhh we aren’t rich enough! wahhhhh freee market….wahhhhhhh! Who really cares if a few thousand people lose their jobs, after all what would be the point of making a car that gets awesome fuel mileage, is good for the environment and doesn’t need to be repaired every other month.
Buy American! Blame the Unions! woohooo Democracy!
Join me in my next post where I’ll pin our loss in Iraq to the liberal media coverage it is getting!
Toyota too, as their latest product launch is a full sized pickup truck with a V-8 (350 ci)
and Honda now offers 4 suvs including a pickup.
and the Germans didn’t want to be left ou, BMW and Mercedes each offers 4+ suv models.
those evil car manufacturers, selling Americans the cars we want to buy.
Gas at $3 a gallon and they run and ad that villafies congress in their quest to increase mpg
wut duz thatt meen?
The Big Three (Ha Ha) cannot compete with Toyota et al in the car space partly because of inefficiency and partly because of these high legacy costs. So they don’t try. They come out with specialty vehicles (noticed a lot of strange looking GM products these days), new lines (Minivan was a creation of Chrysler) and big trucks(including SUV’s). Now, as steamboat points out, the Japanese are invading the truck turf (They already compete successfully in the minivan arena).
Their costs are ~$2500 more per car than the competition. They simply cannot compete that way.
Expect more dumping on the unions. They purchased peace over the years and now they cannot afford to pay the bill.
Fuel economy standards are crap too. When the price of gas goes up, we will drive less until we can change to more fuel efficient cars. Simple.
On the other hand, it would help if the buying public stopped demanding overweight and overpowered living rooms on wheels. I would guess that 90% of buyers never have need of the power and acceleration speeds that eat up gasoline. If you spend most of your time commuting on Kirkwood Highway, what good does acceleration from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds get you. Do you really need 4 wheel drive more than an hour per year? Does your SUV or pickup tow an RV trailer? I don’t blame the manufactuers for providing what the dumb-a33es demand. It is just that they have no fall-back product and don’t want to spend the money to stay above water without government subsidies.
Maybe big brother should tell us what kind of car we can drive and it shouldnt be up to us dolts. Sound good TomaDope?
Bookem – How many miles per soldier does your truck get?
Don’t ignore the effects of regulation on cost. The safety regs add huge costs to the end product. Minivans are the more common b/c people who have more than 2 kids need three rows of seats as car seats will not fit three across in most cars.
Combine that with very very high labor costs in the US and govt. subsidies for foreign car companies.
And the fact that healthcare costs are so high, due to our flawed system. Oh and we keep giving them amnesty for their dumb business decisions.
I say we should take off the catalytic converters, those damned safety costs!
heck take out the seat belts too, let the consumer decide if they want to buy them!
you know what, hell, lets build dump trucks that go 0-60 in 6 seconds, burn 5 mpg, dump tons of co2 into the air….heeeeehaaawwwwww
freeeeee market!!!!
donviti:
If a government you did not like, say one headed by a man with the middle initial W, said that is what you would drive, THAT IS WHAT YOU DRIVE!
I don’t want any government to have that power. As it is we all have the power. Buy a responsible car that gets good mileage and has good safety features and feel good. If you don’t think the market will satisfy your desires, then either the market is broke – probably by government – or your desires are not realistic or profitable.
“you know what, hell, lets build dump trucks that go 0-60 in 6 seconds, burn 5 mpg, dump tons of co2 into the air….heeeeehaaawwwwww
freeeeee market!!!!”
You know what Donviti, it is a free market. Please feel free to build whatever fuel-efficient, eco-friendly car you want. If people buy it and you get rich. Great. That is what market is all about.
it was more a knock on the incredible of Ford you baffoons…notice they are losing $5000 a car
that was the point of this post
so if Ford was meeting the demands of the market they would be leading the industry
now wouldn’t they????
instead they are losing tons of money per car and trying to rig government policy around the profit percentages per vehicle
that was what the post was about..
incredible lack of business sauvy of Ford you baffoons
“incredible lack of business sauvy of Ford you baffoons”
I will concede that point…with the exception of the name calling. But you seem to have a problem with what the report suggests…that heavy union contracts are causing much of that unprofitability. So if in their business savy they do trim the workforce and the out or work benefits…won’t you still be screaming? I am confused…what do YOU think should happen here?
Take a look at last week’s Business Week magazine. It details the mistake by Ford over the year.
The loss per car was pointed out on the compact cars which cause a $3,000 loss per care but they sell them to help with their compliance with CAFE requirements.
They have too many different frames and a corporate atmosphere of idiocy and ineptitude that is worse than the airlines.
The union workers could work for free and Ford would still lose money.
well said Mike..
“compact cars which cause a $3,000 loss per care but they sell them to help with their compliance with CAFE requirements. ”
sounds like the muscle car and SUV buyers are subsidising the econo-car buyers.