Losing 25% of your cash IN ONE QUARTER, is a problem.
It is believed the “liquidity” they have are Volvo, Mazda, and other saleable asets.
They should get on the bread line too.
But don’t call it a loan, these companies aren’t paying back $50 Billion dollars
It is a handout

If they haven’t turned a profit in 3 years, and are still in better shape than the others, maybe they have some good bean counters over there>
DrFill

Major newspapers mentioned loss of only 129 millions, which is nothing. How that number went to near 3 billion is magic in itself.

The cost of operating the car business was a $3B loss
They had retiree accounting one-time write-offs of over $2B
The net effect is they are burning through cash like Sarah Palin
DrFill

Come on Dr.Fill, they wish they can be conservative spenders like Sarah Palin & family. Ford family is much needier and larger.

Yeah, Dr. Fill, comparing Ford to Sarah Palin is ridiculous. Sarah at least looks good.

They need a product hero to stop them from putting out ****e like the Flex. It’s gross, and costs up into the $40k range, and then they wonder why it doesn’t sell.

Beatus
I guess that was a little low
The ‘09 F-150 and Focus still give me the heaves
The Fusion Hybrid is encouraging doh
DrFill

It’s bad…but the good news is that it’s not as bad as GM.

From InsideLine.com
To help shore up its dwindling cash pile, Ford said it would slash its white-collar workforce by another 10 percent, eliminating bonuses and merit raises, and would trim capital spending by up to $1 billion. It also plans to spin off more assets, including its stake in Mazda.

Those moves, Ford said, should help it raise up to $17 billion in cash over the next two years. The company also has access to another $10.7 billion through a revolving credit line, secured two years ago when Ford mortgaged nearly all its assets, including the historic Blue Oval logo.

Ford burned through cash at the rate of $2.6 billion a month in the third quarter, leaving its cash reserves at $18.9 billion at the end of September. If it maintains that rate of burn — spending more than it takes in — Ford could exhaust its existing cash reserves in less than eight months
DrFill

Sure, they’re blowing big chunks, but at least it’s not the dry heaves quite yet. The Flex is just a pimple on their butt. They need to cure the rash first.

DR_FILL
FORD IS BURNING THREW THERE OWN CASH FROM THE SALE OF JAG., ROVER, AND ASTON, AND SO WHAT DO YOU CARE? YOU DON’T LIVE OFF THE CAR BUSINESS….
MAYBE IF YOU STOP ACTING LIKE A PRICK SOME OF US MIGHT GIVE YOU SOME RESPECT, BUT YOU ARE A DOCTOR AND THAT MAY BE THE LAST THING YOU WANT….

Dr.Fill comes off as a prick to me too…

But what he’s saying is true. It’s ridiculous that the automotive industry got itself caught up in this shi.t, it’s extremely exhausting. For the last fifty years, the rest of the world has laughed and mocked our chrome plated, fully loaded land yachts of iron. But in the last thirty years, they’ve had reason to. And we’ve stood behind Detroit nothing but 100%. Through the crisis in the 70’s. Through the financial crisis that the Big Three were experiencing in the 80’s. Through the bland, boring and outdated cars of the 90’s. Through the disappointing industry at the turn of the century.

But I’m tired of sticking up for Detroit. I would choose many other products over the current ones they offer. The CTS, Malibu, Corvette, Mustang and Wrangler are the only Detroit vehicles I would choose over ANY of their competitors. And these products alone cannot save Detroit. What about the rest of their crap products? Wouldn’t you all agree there’s HUGE room for improvement in nearly EVERY vehicle in America’s lineup?

The Aveo, Cobalt and HHR could be so much better if they had worked with it a little bit more, and could have made a real image for Chevrolet. The Fusion and new Taurus could have been huge hits, just like the Taurus’s that came before, but instead were just mediocre players in a huge sea of competitors. The Caliber, Sebring and Avenger could have created a new image across the line for Chrysler as high quality cars, but instead they were extremely dissapointing to where they had to be revoked because of quality.

I don’t think I would stand behind ANY of Detroit’s current brands. They’ve ALL fallen victim to cost cutting and product placement, with not ONE victim left standing. Lincoln has a mish mash of Ford products, the Lincoln that helped define a new generation of styling in the 60’s. Chrysler is now trying to compete in two markets; the bread and butter, as well as the premium market. Cadillac up till now had some of the cheapest interiors you could come across, at a “bargain price”. But why go for bargain when you can break a stigma that’s surrounded Cadillac since they switched to front wheel drive, Chevrolet rebranded vehicles?

The union is out of control. That’s about the only reason why I don’t blame Detroit 100% for their current situation. However, the Big Three could have stopped it at any malicious moment in the past 20 years, but not now. They’ve grown from a small thorn to a cancer that’s smothering the automotive manufacturing process. The unions wear the pants in Detroit, that’s for sure. It should be a horrible embarrassment to these companies who have fought through numerous depressions and consumer changes, but not their own employees.

And the best Detroit can give us is the Flex, which has mediocre fuel economy, mediocre driving and high pricing? IN a depression (however you want to put it, we ARE in a state of depression) of all times to release this product? How about their simple bread and butter products? How about getting vehicles like the Fusion, Cobalt and Caliber above par? Reach the bar higher! How about at the opposite end of the spectrum, with Lincoln, Chrysler and Caddy? While Toyota’s puss.ying around with station wagon Camry’s and the Koreans are trying to make a new luxury brand out of Hyundai, the one who gave us some of the worst products to hit American shores in the 90’s, Ford, GM and Chrysler are loosing billions on billions monthly. Their producing so many vehicles that they can’t sell them all, not standing behind their products, selling them to rental fleets, reliability and quality are down the drain, and then resale bombs.

And even through the crap products, even through the Korean and Mexican made products, even through exporting jobs overseas, even after making some of the least reliable, lowest quality pieces of crap on the planet, EVEN through a Chrysler bail out and $25 billion of OUR hard earned tax dollars go to these nose-diving giants, we’ve stood behind them. Maybe people have just had enough of Detroit. You can talk about how all the Japanese products are soul less, but do you truly see soul in Americas? As far as I’m concerned, they’ve lost it.

*how about getting vehicles like the Focus, Cobalt and Caliber above par.

Wow, I typed a bit more than I thought…..

Nice rant, JayC. Very well said, though.

Yup, sums it up pretty well. Even with their blinders on they should have heard the train coming even if they couldn’t see it.

Another thing to remember about the product cycle is the length of time between product approval and real production… meanwhile, the market can change rapidly (i.e. $4 gas, financial collapse), but the product will still come out when it was originally planned. Also, think of all the suppliers that have tooled up for the projected 3-5 year run of the new product.

The Flex or GM large crossovers would have seemed brilliant if the economy stayed the way it was in 2004-2005 when these products were given the green light.

To be fair, we need to see how the 2009 – 2011 vehicles from GM & Ford turn out to rate these companies as stupid or not. I am betting that both companies will be making the most competitive products in their respective categories.

Elviososa – better off than GM? Last I heard they have enough cash for about 100 days! And that was about a week ago….so no it’s more like 93 days & counting!