Ford WAS looking at the small car market...

[Frank Lee]

DETROIT (AP) — At Ford Motor Co. they called it "Blue," a team set up around the year 2000 to design an array of small, fuel-efficient cars to compete with the Japanese. It didn't get far because no one could figure out how to make money on low-priced compacts with Ford's high labor costs...

MyEMBARQ™ - News

Too bad they didn't succeed, or came to faulty conclusions. I'd like to know more about that "Blue" project...

[Yaristock]

Link goes to a blank page

[roflwaffle]

Yahoo

[SuperTrooper]

I think the part about "high labor costs" just about says it all. If you look at Ford and GM efforts to sell a small car since the '80s it usually involves cars made by partners overseas.

Ford Fiesta
Ford Festiva
Pontiac Lemans
Chevy Sprint
Chevy/Geo Metro

Chrysler had it's Mitsubishi connection for the Colt, etc.

If GM and Chrysler do go Chapter 11 the revised union deals could give them an advantage over Ford in small car costs. At that point Ford could possibly renegotiate a better deal with the UAW that would save some of the jobs that were inevitably lost by the others in the bankruptcy procedings.

[trikkonceptz]

Have you seen Ford's European line up lately? Its all small cars, starting with the Ka. I think these cars would do well here. If labor costs here would choke them, then adapt like the japanese, continue to build them overseas and import them to the US until domestic labor problems are resolved.

But seriously, they even have a convertible Focus over there that looks awesome. And most of their cars retail for less than $20K

[Frank Lee]

I know, their Euro lineup has lots of neat stuff.

You'd think that with all the time and energy they put into lobbying Washington, that they could ask for compatible standards so they could bring all that neat Euro stuff over here (and/or bring the designs over and build 'em here) without necessitating so many mods that it's impossible.

[MetroMPG]

Didn't GM's Lutz lob that idea (temporarily relaxed standards, to permit importing Euro spec models) at Washington in September? I don't know what happened with it.

[Yaristock]

Bush profits from oil, he shot it down probably.

[MetroMPG]

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