sigh
Appleseed said:
Isn't this same foolish shortsightedness what got GM and Chrysler in trouble last time?
I'm not sure if a)you're trolling, b)you haven't read the last 8 pages or c) against the odds this is a serious Q?
No, this is nothing like what GM and Chrysler did. Back in the first part of this century they (GM and DCX) were only selling small 'cars' (sedans and hatchbacks) because they had too to offset the CAFE so they could make big bucks on trucks and SUV's. Then gas spiked and the economy hit the E36 M3ter. Suddenly everyone wanted fuel efficient vehicles and there was a price war for the dramatically reduced number of people who could afford to buy a new vehicles. Note, that was 'fuel efficient vehicles' NOT 'small cars'. Now, back then small cars were the pretty much the only fuel efficient vehicles. They were already losing money hand over fist on small cars and suddenly their cash cows stopped selling. That was on top of a decade of E36 M3ty management where they were bouncing from profit to loss every year using gimmicks to move product. They were unhealthy companies on the brink then the double whammy of rising fuel prices and falling sales meant they tumbled over the abyss.
Today Ford, the market place and regulatory situation is completely different to back then. Yes, as a car enthusiast I lament the soon to be passing of small sedans and hatchbacks, especially Sport, ST and RS models. But as an employee and (long term, not cash in tomorrow) shareholder I fully understand it.
The Fuel economy standards are totally different today than back then. You don't need to sell little cars to offset trucks anymore. Also all classes of vehicles are far more fuel efficient than they were a decade ago. I posted the F150 fuel econ a couple of pages back, but as a refresher.
2018 base F150 fuel econ 20 city / 26 highway
2008 base F150 fuel econ 14 city / 20 highway
Then as has been referenced on prior pages sedan sales are collapsing. It's not like a decade ago where they were collapsing because gas was cheap so people were buying big gas guzzlers, it’s because people are buying CUV's with a similar footprint to sedans and hatchbacks with similar fuel econ. BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT THEY WANT. Heck, look at the much acclaimed car of the year, the new Honda Accord. Sales are down even though it's a new product, and according to the motoring press the best in its class. Still Honda are having to give rebates on it. Even in Europe and Asia Sedan sales are dropping at a massive rate as people are buying CUV’s instead. Those European and Asian city centers make even the famously tight and crowded American City centers like NYC, Boston, LA etc. look like wide open superhighways, yet they are moving out of sedans and hatchbacks in favor of CUV’s at an astonishing rate.
Sorry to say, but outside of a shrinking number (by % of market if not absolute numbers) enthusiasts, people just aren't interested in ‘cars’ anymore.
Now Ford is a business and like it or not a business is in business to make money for the shareholders. Right now Ford has a certain amount of cash on hand and certain obligations. To be honest, while enthusiasts love out current lineup especially the sporting offerings, our margins are too low compared to other automakers. That needs to change both for our current health and to protect against a future down turn in the economy. Also it's not just the US auto market that's changing, it's a global thing and Ford is a Global company. More and more European and Asian countries or individual cities are planning on phasing out internal combustion engines. You can argue and rail against that all you like, but it's happening. All automakers need to be and are investing heavily in electrification, autonomy and ride sharing. (Quick aside, which company is second to Toyota in sales volume of electrified vehicles in the US? Yup, Ford. No I don’t know why we don’t publicize that more and it was as surprise to me) To invest in that you need money and money is a finite commodity. You need to allocate those finite resources wisely. So do you invest hundreds of millions or billions of $'s in a segment that is rapidly shrinking, or do you invest those $'s in what the public wants (without the downside of poor fuel econ like trucks and SUVs of the past) and that regulations are driving you towards, or do you invest it in a shrinking market segment that even the recognized leaders are having to leave money on the hood to shift?
Finally, if you were to line up a Ford EcoSprt, an Escape, a Honda CRV and a Toyota Rav 4 in a shopping mall parking lot in LA or Miami and ask random members of Joe Q Public what they were as they exited the mall, I'll bet you 90% of them would say they are 'cars'. They may be CUV's in the market place, the press or too those of us here, but the general public doesn't break things down like that, thigs tend to be cars, SUV's (meaning full size SUV's) or Trucks. Simple as that.
