cortc

Agreed, a few years ago if you wanted a truck or SUV you bought American now everyone has a truck or SUV... Toyota, Nissan and Honda are making several trucks and pickups... Porsche, VW, Audi, BMW, etc. have SUVs today and that is just the tip of the iceberg...

05gtdriver

A lot of this wasn't foreseen because an auto manufacturer can't react as fast as the world changes. Yes, the Asian car companies have made a reputation(specifically the Japanese) of building quality, affordable and economical products(shame on Detroit )but as far as the gasoline prices rising as fast as they have and Detroit already committed to the cars that were developed and approved before 9/11. There's not much they could've done to help the situation they're currently in(because of being too profit happy, i.e. big, gas hungry SUVs/trucks). They have to start somewhere....Ford's recent 0%/72mo was, we all know, a stop gag measure to reduce unsold merchandise, but it worked( I did get another new GT). If you think what the new CEO's getting paid is ridiculous, look at sports for a second. Do you really think a batter that hits less than 35% of the time is worth 10-20mil a year?
Of course sports merchandise, outrageous ticket prices and heavy duty network contracts make everyone involved richer, so in a word, if they can afford to pay it, they'll(companies/sports team owners) pay it. 20mil is a drop in the bucket, as stated previously on this thread, if a company can save 100-200mil a year. Of course it hurts to see very hard working Americans lose not only their jobs, but perhaps too their view of the American dream that they've worked so hard for. We all wish for better things for all because we live in the greatest country of all. I was guilty of buying imported vehicles(just 2 though) and I came into a discussion once with co-workers and realized that we hold our own destiny in our hands with the decisions we make. Just buy American(although sometimes the view is blurry on what's actually produced here), do your research. Do you realize how happy I feel knowing that I drive an American car that actually has American tires on it? It's tightening the belt time in this country...Ford's doing what they feel is best at this time, just as GM and Daimler-Chrysler(although I don't consider the latter a true American car maker anymore) are. Let the man tie his own noose before making hasty decisions about him. IMO

Meph

If we could just get rid of the damn UAW then maybe we'd see some real benefits happen to Ford and GM.

bl1nk

Youre right, Ford basically lives off of the F150 and Mustang but what can you do, its the best selling truck for like, 25 years now? And the Mustang... Im almost positive its the only muscle car from back in the day that is still in production, and has never been "discontinued". Idk, IMO it says something about a company when they drop a model and then pick it back up years later down the road. But on the whole sedan thing, I know my aunt has a Ford 500 and its actually really nice inside. It has a massive interior (I thought I was inside a small suv), it was leather, power everything and it definately didnt seem to be lacking in the juice department either, especially the way my aunt drives... Im not sure why it hasnt sold alot more cars than it has. As far as the CEO switch, sorry if this is a stupid question but.. by becoming CEO of Ford, is he in turn CEO of Lincoln and Mercury too? Because if so, I think if he did look into the Lincoln and Mercury lines and find out what makes the sedans sell and put more of that into Ford, the company could have a nice rounded product line and hopefully still keep most of the focus on the 2 biggies. I guess the fact is that Ford has always focused on the Mustang alot, and even more in the past couple years, and the fact is that yeah everyone likes muscle cars, and yeah we like to go fast but when it comes right down to it, most all of us will have familes one day (if you dont already) and we will need something other than the Mustang, and right now Ford just isnt meeting everyones standards for that. Maybe this new guy can turn some things around with putting too big of a dent in our "fun" department.

robbins2222

True ford is relieing on Two cars, mustang and the f-150 and so fourth the ford taures did well a while ago but with all these foreign cars on market today that offer quality affordability and durability there is no match, keep in mind that some car makers still import them and compete even with duties.

Blacksmoke

Wow Someone that knows what he is talking about... .hey LegallyTorch... let people with brains speak.. and you just... shut up...

Agleon

Ford has some crappy commercials.

05gtdriver

You don't like the one where a father & son are testing the 0-60 in a parking lot?

Agleon

I've only seen that one maybe about 2 time. The one I see everyday over and over is with "flash your grill"

wakebord99

Hey C6.. i'm sure I'm not the first nor the Last guy to say this.. but what's up with the C6 Vette username and Sig in a Mustang forum.. I'm a HUGE vette fan myself, wish i could get another one, but alas they don't make 4 seaters for us family guys.

And as far as the CEO bit goes, at that high of a level in a company like this, it doesn't matter if he was selling twinkies. It's basically all the same. Come up with a statagey to Improve Quality perception, Reduce per unit costs, Incease product awareness. So be it planes, houses, cars, or twinkies.. doesn't matter to him.