When Ford announced a quarterly loss of $123 million nearly two weeks ago, there were serious concerns over the automaker’s future, and its restructuring plan. Today, Ford announced its loss was actually double the initial report — $254 million. The automaker cited pension costs related to North American job cuts. Ford also changed its 2006 outlook to a loss for its Premier Automotive Group (See our earlier report on the PAG). “Ford is in worse shape than GM right now,” said consultant Maryann Keller, president Maryann Keller & Associates in Greenwich, Connecticut. “There is a dearth of seasoned management. As far as product, they’ve got to catch up in passenger cars while they also face new pickups from GM and Toyota that are going to hurt their most profitable vehicle.”
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08/03, 1:18 AM
posted by:
1c3d0g
It’s time to start making some nice cars. Taurus? Give me a break!
08/03, 1:38 AM
posted by:
al
man ford needs to get its game on man like really change all the styling on all cars and make all new models also make the lineup a lot smaller and make it radical and futuristic looking and there we go good again also they need to change their logo and make its slogan THE NEW FORD COMPNAY GERMAN ENGENEERING!!! (no they shouldnt)
08/03, 1:41 AM
posted by:
al
they should do everything apart from the last part but it could help…… no one knows until u give it a try right??? buit then againlast time i tried something crazy i got suspended
08/03, 4:01 AM
posted by:
Durandal
port ford of europe’s model line over here. can’t be any worse than what we’ve got now, and their focus would kick our focus’s ass. i’m pretty sure the mondeo would own up on the fusion.
i don’t want to see any of these american car companies go down, it would mean the death of the US economy and allow china to easily surpass us in the global marketplace.
ford, gm, chrysler, get your butts in gear. look at toyota!
08/03, 4:05 AM
posted by:
peter g
254 mill…Ouch! Abandon ship!
08/03, 6:42 AM
posted by:
Carnut4ever
When it rains, it pours LOL. More bad news for Ford. Am I surprised? Nope, it is because the recent product launches are not up to expectations. The Fusion and Five Hundred are decent but not big hits that Ford needs so badly. Calling Mazda and Ford European styling studios, the parent company needs your help. The North American studios have no idea what a nice car looks like.
08/03, 8:56 AM
posted by:
BIX
Not that it would help too much, but why don’t they ditch Mercury for one thing. The extra tooling, labor, marketing, dealerships, etc. It might not help all of their problems, but to me it seems like such a wasteof $$$ for mediocre cloned cars, with a questionable demographic market.
08/03, 9:37 AM
posted by:
Atomicbri
OK Ford, sounds like you’re on a road to ruin if you don’t shape up….shape up in the shape of the C1 Ford Focus please! Don’t make the mistake a third time and just facelift ONCE AGAIN the old and 8 year old Focus we have here currently for sale. Bring over the Fiesta (but rename it) and at least you will have some smaller cars in the lineup, unlike now….
08/03, 9:41 AM
posted by:
David
BIX: If you look at the spreading there costs over increased capacity (even with the incremental tooling required), it’s definitely worth having Mercury around. The avg Mercury driver buys that car b/c it’s a one off of a Ford. If Mercury didn’t exist, they are most likely, per the consultants, to go buy non-Ford vehicles and in turn take away from volume that helps fund Ford and Lincoln vehicles.
There is no cost for the dealerships as that is a franchisee who bears that expense and the Marketing is likely a pittance in the overall expenditures of Ford.
08/03, 9:43 AM
posted by:
Nick
Ford, please let go of Mazda before you go under. Let them have the C1 platform so they can continue to make the 3. Hell, they gave you the platform from the 6 and you’re running w/ it, only seems fair to me. Sell the PAG to a german company (BMW?) and just get out of the American car market. Ford would actually be a profitable company if they didn’t sell cars here.
08/03, 10:00 AM
posted by:
1c3d0g
#1: hey loser, post in your own name and quit using mine.
08/03, 11:17 AM
posted by:
BIX
David: It makes sense about dealierships and the tooling and so forth, but it seems to me that they could channel the additional $$$ into R&D, technology and design work for engines/platforms, better materials, etc. I’m pretty sure they spend at least in the tens of millions if not more in marketing the Mercury division though. I realize that throwing $$$ at the problem won’t solve anything, it still just kinda seems wasteful to try and catch the Ford one-offs…
Overall I suppose it’s a combination of bad managment and lack of solid product portfolio. I hate to see Ford in so much trouble though.
08/03, 8:26 PM
posted by:
The Stig
Seems to be standard practice: tell people there will be bad news then later tell people how bad the bad news really is.