Comments on: Ford’s June sales decline by 28 percent

By: jayjc08

jayjc08 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:15:27 +0000

xyunya- Fusion and Edge are both very good sellers, Edge is moving more than any other crossover. The Taurus and Taurus X have both been around for a number of years now under the guise and so far have done well concerning reliability and top safety, and although I would fully agree with you that nothing really sticks out for either vehicles, neither does anything in the segment for that matter. Personally I think the Taurus is dorky looking, but more creative looking than the Impala or Avalon, and has a much better interface, safety, room and ultimately price tag.

And the Focus is a GREAT car. Not nearly as… once again, I’ll say “creative looking” as some in it’s competition, it’s a nimble, reliable and quality car. Although it isn’t as flashy as the Civic, or selling quite as fast as the Corolla, you’ve gotta understand it’s a true blue collar car.

And I’m not sure what everybody is in a wildfire about trucks not selling. Of course I fully understand that the segment is in a full nose dive, it’s such a ridiculously huge selling segment that even those lower sales are impressive numbers.

It’s unfortunate though they still have lower than average cars like the Explorer, Expedition, Ranger, Crown Vic. and in many ways, the aging Mustang that is now going to be moving into a more niche market. It’s also unfortunate that they have such ridiculous management- a bunch of 60 year old headless chickens.

By: bigjob

bigjob — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:10:43 +0000

xyunya,

There are some good reports on the Ford cars. Consumer Reports, which are a Toyota/Honda lover, have given recommened buys to the Taurus/Sable; Fusion/Milan among others. The Taurus/Five Hundred has been out for close to 4-years now, so there is some history now. The Focus was the number 1 selling domestic car, which is amazing. It is not a bad car, but look at the segment it is in…..how many in that segment are world class cars? Ford is taking the global approach, and using their europeon designs/ platforms in their future products. They just need to have quick turn around times on these new products. Not as bad as you make it out to be.

By: xyunya

xyunya — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:20:11 +0000

jayjc08, with all due respect there is absolutely no historical data to back up your statement. Taurus are fairly new models and have no history to speak about and we know they are not the same old Taurus they are re-badged Ford 500 (still a relatively new model). Edge, Fusion are relatively new and are not segment leaders in any stretch of imagination. Focus is a 12 year old model under new sheet metal and it was not a great a vehicle 12 years ago, I doubt there is much improvement, but I agree that in 12 years even Ford could iron out some kinks. The reason Ford is the second form the bottom (after Chrysler) cause their cars sucks (they are great compare to model T and model A) but not to competition in 2008. Their trucks are not selling.

By: jayjc08

jayjc08 — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:54:26 +0000

Fromes- Depends which model. The Taurus and Taurus X are great, reliable cars, and you can get huge discounts on both. The Edge, Fusion, Escape and Focus are all some of the best in the segment. Haven’t seen the Flex.

400horsess- Huh? Tyties found in the Tundra?

By: monte

monte — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:09:59 +0000

oh, and would you quit with the f150 is #1 ****.
chev/gmc 1500>f150

By: monte

monte — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:08:00 +0000

ihustle you say the flex is the fastest crossover on the market. Wow I guess a salesman will lie about anything. The pontiac torrent will pull 0-60 in 6.9 sec, your flex will in 9.0 sec, and those are manufacture specs. Not even close, and if that doesn’t convince you, ever hear of the cheyene turbo.

By: ihustle

ihustle — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:36:34 +0000

Ohh and slug, 263 hp is not a slug, definately has more horsepower then your minivan you pencil pusher

By: ihustle

ihustle — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:35:24 +0000

Save ford? Edge is the #1 cuv in sales, f-150 is the best selling truck, and the focus is the #1 domestic car. Where do you get your facts real?you should change your name to get facts because thats what you need to do. MPG for the Flex is 24mpg so where the hell did you get 17. were ford not gmc or chrysler

By: Fromes

Fromes — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:20:12 +0000

lets be honest, right here right now, if any of us were in the market for a new car how many would seriously consider a ford?

By: Get Real

Get Real — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:07:35 +0000

I had very high hopes the Flex would save Ford.
Flex is a 5,000 pound fat 17 mpg slug costing over 30 grand.
Ford is doomed.

By: ktulu

ktulu — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:17:10 +0000

2 bad

By: howsmydriving

howsmydriving — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:00:22 +0000

What do you expect? Ford designs and markets its small cars so that you feel embarrassed to drive them.

By: HemiRoadRunner

HemiRoadRunner — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:49:30 +0000

How do you get holy water? You boil the hell out of it.

By: elviososa

elviososa — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:45:00 +0000

The bubble bursted.

By: mayer_ray_nagin

mayer_ray_nagin — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:44:39 +0000

^^^ I mean Harley, not King Ranch.

By: mayer_ray_nagin

mayer_ray_nagin — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:43:57 +0000

Note to Ford: keep sinking money into the new F450 King Ranch.
.
And in other news, word on the street is that Toyota fell more than GM in June. OUCH!

By: hateful83

hateful83 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:22:33 +0000

Should this come as a suprise, isn’t this just an obvious result of the market, and of course the outrageous price of gas. Those F150’s that people loved so much cost as much to fuel each month as a new car payment. I don’t begrudge people for having/having owned one because there was a time in this country when you could drive what you wanted. That time is no more.

By: mayer_ray_nagin

mayer_ray_nagin — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:20:43 +0000

Toyota’s down 21.4% too. (per Yahoo) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080701/ap_on_bi_ge/auto_sales

By: cookie4me

cookie4me — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:53:34 +0000

The costs of labor contracts greatly influenced the profit per unit so naturally the bigger more expensive units had greater profit and thus they influenced product mix. There was no way you could bargain with the UAW 10 or 20 years ago to get the concessions you needed to make the smaller cheaper units as profitible as the trucks/SUVs. There was no sedition to burn as much oil and pollute the planet as much as possible amungst the automakers, it was based on reality of economics. They focused on models they could produce at a profit. So simple.

By: TOZO

TOZO — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:39:50 +0000

If only they could sell the Ka here.

By: HemiRoadRunner

HemiRoadRunner — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:37:34 +0000

Why does every LLN article on sales decline state the obvious, “Because of record oil and gas prices”? I mean every damn article mentions that, WE GET IT LLN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: ihustle

ihustle — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:27:09 +0000

Everyone is on the decline. The economy is down. With gas on the rise, there is not one company that has posted a profit in there second quarter suv sales.(fact)Big ups to the Ford focus though. We can’t keep them on the lot. If you haven’t drove a Flex yet definately test drive one. By far the fastest Crossover on the market.

By: inline6

inline6 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:58:24 +0000

Are they also to blame for making smaller cars less profitable than they are for their foreign competitors? Because that might have something to do with it, too.

By: johnnycanuck

johnnycanuck — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:58:02 +0000

The Ford Focus is the best selling domestic car. Huh. I hope we are living in a world of make believe, TomF, because reality ain’t no screaming hell.

By: TomF

TomF — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:51:39 +0000

I blame the slump on elves. Elves, fairies and goblins. They assured Ford cheap oil would last forever, so there would never be a need to adjust the product mix. Damn their lies.

By: corvette

corvette — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:50:09 +0000

that sucks.