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Subaru has shared parts with other makes, but not Ford that I've ever seen. Some electrical components, the rear differential, and I believe some of the old carbs, were shared with Nissan as Nissan has/had a 3% share. Thankfully, they didn't share much. Now they are owned by Toyota and they are dead to me. Perhaps you're thinking of Mazda. Ford had owned 33%, but just sold the shares back to Mazda a couple of months ago.
I mostly hate big cars, but I'm a minority. Most people love their trucks and their small SUVs because they feel safer sitting up high (the lizard brain is very much controlled by fear). The reason for the very sudden shift to small cars was the rapid rise in gasoline costs. Just like the other rare times Americans have shifted away from large vehicles. It's necessity, not preference. Perhaps its a substitute for a sense of powerlessness (which would jive with the oft-quoted safety as being a reason for driving these battleships) likely brought on by the same over-stressed, over-worked, and over-competitive consumer-identity culture that also leads some to mass murder. Or it could just be that Americans have the viable option to drive giant vehicles (relatively wide streets, frequent long distance travel, cheap gas) and that people from anywhere would do the same under the same circumstances. Pragmatism and moderation are among the most rare of virtues among the humans.
As for the Big 2.5, the executives got them into a hole the unions won't let them out of. Stupid, typically short-sighted union concessions made over 30 years ago have trapped the companies in staggering and ridiculous legacy costs and inability to downsize. To idle a UAW factory, the company has to pay them 90% of their pay to sit at home. Makes more sense to just leave them there to flood the market with cars nobody wants already, further hurting their future sales by bringing down the trade-in values. But that's the typical short-sighted American business model. It's all for the quick buck, keep the idiot board happy so they can go out and spend their money on curing cancer and providing education and health care to the poor. Or maybe it was blowing it on exclusive country club memberships, bribing government officials to undermine fair representation in the republic, huge yachts that sit at dock most of the year, and elaborate parties for their kids, I forget which. Either way, greed on both sides is to blame.
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