Bring over your best designs where ever they are in world. You have an entire engineering staff its what you do! There is no excuse for not getting it done!

Focus ST is a GTi killer imho and the new RS will be an R32/34 killer methinks… time will tell…

While the car is driving down the side of the building, the woman pours out some water from the bottle, the water hovers about as the car continues downward, the guy taps the brake, and the water flies back upward towards the woman.

If they can’t grasp the physics in their own constructed reality, do I really want to be travelling down the highway at 120km/h in something they’ve built?

/no

Foster, you are what’s wrong with America.

Have you even considered for one second that most of the people who criticise Ford and GM do so not because they want to see them wiped from the face of the earth, but because they’d actually rather they smarten the f@ck up and make a decent product. It may surprise you to learn that there are cars, past and present, from both companies that I do like, and would very seriously consider buying. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the overwhelming majority of the products from these lumbering behemoth American corporations are poorly-assembled, fantastically-uninspired ox carts. I would love to see Ford turn things around, but simply saying they have doesn’t make it so.

Amazingly, this is a microcosm of America and the attitudes of many Americans. America is great nation, but the refusal of many Americans to consider the possibility that there are things which could be improved.

Incidentally, the platform for the Fusion, which you’re so quick to offer as a trump card to Honda’s Accord, was designed by Mazda. In Japan. Furthermore, the Fusion is actually assembled in Hermosillo, Mexico, while the Honda Accord is assembled in Marysville, Ohio. So, it will actually be Mexicans losing jobs if no one buys a Fusion.

But then again, Ford and GM have been actively outsourcing their labour to save money (read: they’re finding ways not to employ Americans) for many years now. (This is not to say that asian manufacturers don’t also build cars in Mexico, but they have been investing like a gajillion dollars in American manufacturing facilities, as well.)

Finally, I’m curious as to exactly where you intend to move?

/no

“bepsf”, you said it all.

You still don’t currently sell anything I want to aspire to… except that car. Now it’s gone and your other product lines aren’t revolutionized yet. Leaving it in the lineup would have only held together your remaining credibility as a purveyor of great cars of any type.

… in fact, why not make the DEW Lincoln LS platform just replace the Crown Vic? If it’s cost.. okay but if not then it’s a wonder why it hasn’t been decided already.

Second, LamborghiniZ, I would note that the fit and finish in the Fusion is not that far from the Accord. Have you ever been in the Fusion? My neighbor has a Fusion and an Accord, and I haven’t seen him drive the Accord since that Fusion parked itself in his garage. He has nothing but praise for it. The Fusion’s features, quality and price make it a great value if people were not so adverse to anything designed by a U.S. company.

That said, Ford has made some recent blunders: Explorer, Expedition, (probably) Escape redesigns. Not that the improvements they made weren’t good, but that they didn’t change the exterior. The Explorer and Expedition both drive very well – better than any SUV in their class, but they don’t look interesting or new! Why would you waste all your money when people won’t recognize it as new or different and, therefore, not buy it? The Escape, if the Mariner is any indication, will be the worst “upgrade” Ford ever made.

But, despite those, the Fusion is a remarkably good car. The Edge looks to be a very good car. The new Focus is about six or seven months away, and while it’s not the C1, analysts who have seen it are generally upbeat about it. The 500 and Freestyle are coming up with their updates – which I’ll wait to comment on later.

The MKS has the potential to be good. The new F-series has the potential. The new Fairlane has the potential. And those are all due in the next 12-18 months.

The loss is like what GM faced last year, and it will be interesting to see if Ford can, similarly, level its losses in the next year or two. There are compelling products in the pipe, but a couple years is a long time to wait, especially those on this board. In the meantime, we suffer with the “upgraded” Escape.

But at least I’m more optimistic than most.

Even now, their arrogance in turning away joint-ventures or alliances with successful French and Japanese companies simply amazes me.  And in typical Ford fashion, instead of hiring a guy who knows a thing of two about cars to help turn the place around, they hire a bean-counter from Boeing.  Oh wow, cutting more costs should make the product LOTS better…

They’ve been painting themselves into corners for years and now it looks like it’s  too little, too late.  The weak will be eliminated and the strong will survive.  FoMoCo deserve what they have coming to them…

…and Ford doesn’t make a single vehicle that is in the market segment I’m interested in.

There is no Ford made that is a ‘hot-hatch’ like the Mazdaspeed 3 or VW GTI.

They used to have a tamed version of the Focus (with a 150 hp), but that stopped in 2004.

Until Ford ponies up a GTI killer, Ford isn’t going to make $25,000 from me.

But hey, Ford’s doing a bang-up job meeting the wants and needs of the consumer. After all, they lost $5.8 billion dollars. So they must be doing a great job for all the rest, yes?

Puke away.

Prime example is that my 300hp V8 powered SRX, while quick and powerful is rated to tow 1000lbs. I paid almost 60 thousand dollars for this thing and I get about 14mpg on a good day.

By comparison, a 26 thousand dollar Ford Freestyle with a weezing 3.0l V6, rated at 20/27mpg will also tow 1000 lbs, while offering a better executed interior, WAY better interior materials and similar interior volume. Both are 7 passenger and Ford matches the features found in my “supposed” upscale ride.

This either makes the Freestyle an absolute bargain or it makes my Caddy look like a ripoff

Here’s the kicker. A Toyota RAV4 with a V6 tows 3500lbs and scoots to 60 in about 6 seconds. Right on par with my Caddy. Even better, the CRV with a freaking 4 cylinder tows more than my V8 powered Caddy. Not that I would ever buy something this small but still.

They keep saying that they’re gonna be turning things around in 2008, but at this rate (and they say the numbers will be WORSE this next quarter) they’re not gonna be around in ‘08 w/out declaring bankruptcy…

…and I doubt that the US Government is in any position to be guaranteeing any loans for Ford like they did for Chrysler back in the 70’s – not with their own massive deficit for the war.

I think that Ford’s bold moves arent very bold, but very poorly executed conservative ****ty creations. Ford needs to understand that making a ****ty car that no one wants is not the way to go…you too GM!

Anyone notice that PAG had 1/3 the income of Ford North America, but only 1/4 the operating losses?  So in real numbers, PAG is doing better than Ford N.A., but of course Ford isn’t looking at selling Lincoln or Mercury – they’d rather sell Jag/Land Rover or Aston.

At the current rate of cash-burn, the $1Billion that they’d optomisitcally get from the sale of Aston works out to only 4-5 weeks of operating losses this past quarter.  Wow, what a great deal…

Maybe it’s time to close the doors, sell off the assets, write a bunch of checks to all the employees and shareholders and thank everyone for the past 100+ years.