Ford Posts 2006 Losses Today

[kingofthering]

No, that's the UAW's job.

[nota]

The same problem is going for GM and large RWD vehicles for North America. The platforms from Holden wouldn't allow it because LHD wasn't engineered into the platform.

Who told you that? In fact tiny Holden have been making and exporting l/h/d vehicles since 1960. L/h/d IS engineered in - witness the recent 'Pontiac' GTO export program on their previous platform, and impending Holden-built Pontiac G8 RWD exports on the new Zeta platform

Bringing over the products from Europe is difficult because they're RHD and you need to convert it. However, if they bothered to create a unified platform in the first place where it's easy to qualify crash tests for many different markets and allow for left and right HD, they'd be able to port products from all over the place as they see fit.

I see it in completely opposite terms because it is US manufacturers that have overwhelmingly not bothered to produce exportable r/h/d product, especially for their more interesting models. Where are USA's exportable r/h/d Corvettes? Or the Mustangs, Vipers and virtually every other l/h/d-only North American model-ranges from GM & Ford, too numerous to mention?

For example, Ford-AUS have had to source their r/h/d F-Series range from l/h/d Brazil of all places, as Ford-US couldn't be bothered producing their best-selling vehicle in that format. Similarly our right-hook Chryslers and even the Jeeps imports are built in Austria

Contrast the USA's non-r/h/d attitude against the vast majority of japanese & european manufacturers, whether major or minor producers, who seem untroubled to profit from designing & exporting motor cars in both drive-formats

[NSXType-R]

I think I read that in Motortrend, one of the news articles.

[nota]

Ah Motortrend, that might explain it

[Mr.Tiv]

This is bad. I really hate to see this, mostly because it directly impacts my family. I's also hate to see the havoc it would reak on the economy. I am no expert on the economy, I don't care to know anything more than whether it is doing well or not, and I don't have too many investments(and those that I have, I don't manage myself), so I have to ask: if Ford or GM do go bust, which other companies will go down with them. My logic is that they have to have companies supplying them with things they aren't equipped to make for theirself, and if Ford fails those who supply it will likely fail, or at least take a huge hit, right?

[2ndclasscitizen]

It would be bad if they went under, but remember, if they do go under someone has to make the cars to sell to the people who would've otherwise bought a GM or Ford. So you'd see all the Japanese companies with US factories really crank them up and probably build more, even buy GM and Ford plants then retool them.

[Rockefella]

Ah Motortrend, that might explain it

MotorTrend is a rather credible magazine. I fail to see the correlation..

[nota]

MotorTrend is a rather credible magazine. I fail to see the correlation..

Apparently not credible enough to comprehend Zeta which happens to be one of GM's most important platforms..

In the past I've purchased many issues of Motortrend and also encountered many derogatory references to it. In general it seems rather lightweight in content for my taste

[worldchamp]

true, the camaro concept was on the zeta platform.. im guessing that was lhd

[john14]

Will Ford have to manufacture more cars in China to improve their financial situation/performance. I've read information which states Ford do manufacture cars in cheap labour China but this information could be false.

Originally Posted by LandQuail
They hit one out of the park with the Focus, and the Mondeo also in Europe and GB. But like GM's Cobalt, that only makes one in a row.

My Dad has a 2006 Ford Focus CL (manual) and I have to say I am not surprised to hear many people say it is probably the best car Ford has manufactured over the last 15 or 20 years. The Focus really is a very good car because it has decent performance, lots of space, it's practicle, the interior is decent and it's probably the best car to drive... in it's class.

[ScionDriver]

The economic factor is big but as Henk pointed out there is Toyota and Honda and they are building more factories here, which IMO is a great idea because if GM or Ford were to go under they could theoredically hire some (I realize not all would be needed) of the laid-off Ford/GM employees and keep our economy going.

[Niko_Fx]

I've been listening to this "Ford turnaround" for long enough.

[Spastik_Roach]

Continental European drivers, drive LHD cars...

I understand the concern European Fords not being big enough, but what they could do instread is base American Fords in European platforms, which would mean they would save a lot of money by not having to develop too many platforms. Still GM will be importing European Opels as Saturns in the near future, so I don't see why this couldn't be done with Fords.

Furthermore the Mondeo isn't that small. The 4-door saloon is 473cm long. By comparison the Fusion is 482cm long. And imagine if instead of selling the Freestar they sold the S-Max...

The Freestar is apparently supposed to be pretty good so I don't think that'd be high on the list of replacements..

[Quiggs]

You can't turn around a multi-billion dollar, international company overnight. Fact is, the new Fords are lightyears ahead of where the last gen cars were.

Now it's a matter of changing public perception. Especially in America.

[Coventrysucks]

What I don't understand is why they are not bringing their European offerings to the US. They are very competent cars and priced competitively they'd be a success.

I would think that European plants and suppliers would not have the capacity to supply both European and American markets.

Therefore you'd need build the cars entirely in the US, and if you are going to do that, why not tailor those cars to the American market?

There is clearly a lack of confidence in the ability of the large American manufacturers to produce good, competitive cars; the only ones that seem to be successful are the base retro-rehash examples that con people into thinking that they are back in the "good old days" when American cars were more highly regarded.