05/22/2008, 11:21 AM
Ford News
Ford to cut remainder of 2008 production, pushes back North American turnaround goal
Following on the heels of Ford’s announcement that it will idle its Wayne, Michigan SUV plant for five weeks this summer, the Blue Oval has announced that it will be cutting its overall production schedule for the remainder of 2008.
For the rest of the second quarter, Ford will be producing 690,000 vehicles in North America — a 20,000 drop from Ford’s original plans and a 15 percent decrease from the second quarter of 2007. Third quarter production will fall to between 510,000 and 540,000 units — down 15 to 20 percent from the year before — and fourth-quarter production is expected to be between 590,000 and 630,000 units — down 2 to 8 percent from year-ago levels.
Despite an overall reduction, Ford will actually be ramping up production of its hot-selling cars and crossovers.
However, the sales decline of Ford’s most profitable trucks and SUVs will push back the automaker’s North American turnaround plan. “Unless there is a fairly rapid turnaround in U.S. business conditions, which we are not anticipating, it now looks like it will take longer than expected to achieve our North American Automotive profitability goal,” said Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally. “Overall, we expect to be about break-even companywide in 2009 – with continued strong results in Europe and South America.”
05/22, 11:27 AM
posted by:
trooper1
death to ford, death to crap, death to dealerships that don’t honor warranties!
05/22, 12:21 PM
posted by:
RaineMan
Am I the only one who is confused because Ford and GM are still in business but haven’t turned a profit in 5 years?
05/22, 12:23 PM
posted by:
thart66
“Ford to cut remainder of 2008 production”
Sounds like they are not going to produce any more cars this year.
That is a bold move!
05/22, 12:38 PM
posted by:
xyunya
Quality is job No 1! One way to improve quality is to seize production.
05/22, 12:44 PM
posted by:
SR
Lay off some UAW members. That’ll save some money, too.
05/22, 12:47 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
The next 5 or 10 years are going to be interesting because for the first time in their lives the big 2.5 are going to have to build vehicles that are better than just the least they can get away with. If they can pull it off, however, we’ll be the winners.
05/22, 1:55 PM
posted by:
Impulsive
… tell ‘johnny’ what he’s won!!!
05/22, 2:52 PM
posted by:
LJ
Have owned 2 Chevies(77 camaro,87 spectrum), 2 Nissans(sentra, 200sx..a 97 model), 3 Hyundais(last one not due to any choice we had, to be honest..99 sonata, 01 tiburon, 04 sonata gls v6),
05 tC, 08 focus…yes, the wiper blade arm got stuick 30 seconds(would not go down all the way..wiped the windsheild about 75% of the way..enough to see)….and ford HONORED the warranty. If you have a Jerk-Dealership, they may not( we went to 3 ford dealerships, only 1 was ok…in a small town of 13,000 people, the other 2 were in small cities ofr 35-45,000 people…or 3 times what the small town we went to, we bought our car from)..
BIG DIFFERENCE in dealerships… if you can’t figure out a bad dealership(how they will treat you, etc) just by talking to sales-staff, for 10 minutes…then may I suggest that you buy used.
Lot of jerk dealerships(one Toyota dealership was sold to another group…they were the worst..arrogant, talk down to you, lie to you, etc, and this was during a test drive).
Anyhow…..they’re cutting SUV’s, NOT CARS.. Look at the article again… Re-read It: Ramping Up Car Production….means More Cars,not stopping, or less.
Now, I would never buy a SUV from Ford..due to past fires/rollovers, lawsuits(they may be better now, I don’t know. I like cars).
34 year old brother in law(almost 6′6″ tall) got a used taurus(99) in 2001..with 53K miles….
now has over 140,000 miles.. replaced Fan and had radiator core flushed…and normal maintainence…that’s it folks.
This is better than the 99 Sonata we had( needed new radiator, new alternator,windows worked on-new window regulators, etc..).
The 200sx was worse…
I learned my lesson. I Ford cars aren’t safe anymore, roll over, people sue due to wrongful deaths, I’ll stop buying, or if this (almost) 16,000 miles on it already 08 Focus starts acting up like the 200sx or the Sonata… I’ll go elsewhere in 4 years, after pay-off.
That simple.
We do enjoy 33-35 MPG, avg(on par of the 09 Corolla, iirc).
05/22, 2:56 PM
posted by:
LJ
Sorry for going off the deep end… Here’s a deal, I hope they don’t overprice stuff by 2010… dealership told me, when I got oil change this week, the Fiesta may be 15-22K…..depends on how you load one up(that means the 2010-2011 Focus will be what…17-24K, the price of a Hybrid car today, like the Civic?).
They had better deliver MPG….for these prices.
The Fiesta better get 40 MPG,Hwy, at least, as the thing will supposedly be between 12-13 ft long(or shorter than the Scion xD?).
Builds more cars…. More MPG….and keep prices in check…Mazda 2 is the Ford Fiesta…I hope we get the 3 door, though!
05/22, 2:57 PM
posted by:
LJ
iirc. the 2.0 Liter in the 08 Focus is a tweaked Mazda engine.
Sooo… yeah, I like it.
05/22, 9:50 PM
posted by:
Get Real
I wish they had put a good engine and tranny into the Freestyle/TaurusX….and some style.
They could be selling a lot of those now.
05/23, 12:53 PM
posted by:
ihustle
Get real,The taurus x is packing 265 horsepower. What do you mean by good engines? The transmission is also different then the previous one on the freestyle. The cvt transmission is extinct. The only reason the Taurus X isnt selling is because there advertising it poorly. Focus is more on the focus, fusion, and the edge.. Get your facts straight before you write a bunch of bs