“Ford’s sales so far in April have been “terrible,” a company executive said today. Sales were hit by terrible products.”

I fixed the first part of the article for you, LLN.

To boost sales, how about bringing over the Euro Fords!!!??

my thoughts exactly CaddyMTL.

I couldn’t agree, Ford’s north american offerings pale in comparsion to the models they sell in Europe.

Ford’s Euro products are nice as are thier Aussie cars and trucks. Why Ford doesnt offer most of the Aussie cars here is beyond me. We dont need 6 kinds of Ford crossovers and 4 kinds of minivans……but that is damn sure what we have offered. You think that might be why Ford sales suck?

Off topic:

Let’s make an agreement that if GMFan, Homeboy etc, start posting thier usual garbage that no one will respond to it.

On Topic:

I wonder if manufacturers are stuck in some time warp. before we had the internet and could simply type in Ford of Europe and get pictures and specs of the offerings in other markets, whcih then leave us looking at the domestic offerings and scratching our heads… Or, is it that the product designers in the other markets are just much more in tune with what the market wants?

We’ll see in May. Everytime the automakers release their sales, it’s typically:
“Honda/Toyota/BMW/etc reports record-breaking sales last month”
meanwhile:
“GM/Ford/DC executives give lame excuses why their company’s racked up record-breaking losses last month. Ford Chief Sales Analyst George Pipas states ‘We analyzed the data and found that our sales were off 25% because there were only 4 Saturday last month. This wouldn’t be so bad but there were also 5 Wednesdays, which was a perfect storm against our sales teams. Also, Hooter’s new “35 cent wings night” coincided with our major press campaign for the Edge, causing that vehicles sales to plummett.’

Working in corporate America and seeing how little internal corporate kingdoms with political clout (and not much else) operate, I understand how Ford got into this dilemma. What I don’t get is how come someone very high up (as in CEO) doesn’t just say “look assholes, our NA products don’t sell and our non-NA products do. Get me a plan to get those effin’ things here and in the showrooms so we can move some metal. TODAY!”
.
I know it is not quite that easy, but someone there has to be smarter than braindead plus have a spine.

And while we’re offtopic, we need something like a ban file for the guys who keep cluttering the discussions. I can’t even open the story on the new Corvette because it’s hitting my work’s profanity filter (which is set pretty high)

Global_lightning – you haven’t missed much.. just the usual ranting. Oh, and truck-girl apparently dated David Hasselhoff. Poor girl.

LOL@global_lightning’s first post.

LOL@buenos’ second post

I agree that LLN needs to start banning if it gets THIS out of hand. But I also think we can play a part by just ignoring them. Sooner or later they will get bored, just like the the previous guys (gmnumberone4ever, and gmrules etc…)

Ford was making a profit a year ago!?

Well said, Ricardo. What concerns me about Ford is that Mullaly is not an auto enthusiast – he had never been to a car show before Ford hired him. How can someone who is not passionate about cars run a car company? Yes, Ford needs someone with executive skills, which he has. But if they are going to focus on product, don’t they need someone who has motor oil in the blood?

It’s not rocket science. Terrible products = terrible sales.

even if ford actually does what they claim, and thats a big IF, they’ll still have a tough time catching up with everyone.

Hmm, a nice story to say in advance of announcing more staggering losses.

LOL @ Global_lightnight and A4

It doesn’t matter whether or not Mullaly’s ever been to a car show. That has to be one of the most pointless remarks ever. Mullaly is a business man who is a turnaround expert. He worked magic and made excellent choices for Boeing. He could do the same for Ford. Last I heard, Ford is retooling and looking forward to a steady profit in the next few years. He also knows quality-at the time he was hired on at Ford he was driving a Lexus LS430. Mullaly knows more about cars than you might think. Time will tell.

Excuses, excuses, Alan Mullaly. Just buy the remainder of Mazda if you want to credit yourself with selling more cars. Mazda sales were up 48% in March. It’s got potential for bragging rights.

LOL, someone tell homeboy that Ford isn’t GM.

It’s part of every other wake up call that Ford has had and they clicked in. Improvements are being made by their new VP and I think he knows his stuff. Mullaly is my hero! now just bring back the SHO!!! lol

Ford needs to ditch the slow selling cars like the Five Hundred and the Freestyle, slow down on the SUV’s and start dumping money into new car design. They do have winners with the Fusion and F150. Ive driven the F150 and I have a 6 (same car) and they are great.

ford just sucks in general, who else releases 2008 vehicles this early?? and the recall for the flame throwing pos truck they released early? lol wow, they are amazing at making quality cars and trucks! the best thing for them is to close down for good, if not they are just going to loose billions, they are headed straight down the craper!

This coming from Dodge…can’t even spell crapper! That’s hilarious in so many ways…

What does this have to do with GM? Homo boy

Jamaicandude is right.

Bad Product = Bad Sales = Bad April (& May & June, etc.)

Make cars that run 120,000 miles without breaking stuff and people will BUY your car.

At 120,000 miles they will expect SOMETHING to break, but not my mom’s FoMoCo transmission at 73,000 miles. (My 70 year old retired mom)