Ford to stop selling cars in North America

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Not the Fiesta, but it was cheaper than a Focus. Found the article that mentioned cost as a primary reason for Ford buyers to pick the Ranger: https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/...ing-the-ranger

Except, the linked article doesn't say that, and the only price it quotes is for an at-the-time 2-year-old used Ranger.

The 2011 Focus started at $16,640 and topped out at $18,870, $710 more than the Ranger's starting price.

If Ford brings the Ranger back it will be a bigger truck, and a more expensive one than it was in the past. There's no way it will be price-competitive with small cars from any manufacturer (since Ford won't have any left...), let alone cheaper.

[Hersbird]

Again I say there is no profit in a sub $15,000 anything automotive made and sold in the USA. Probably in anything sub $20,000. So they could either bulk up the content of the little cars and try an push them up to the over $20,000 mark but then nobody would buy them over the crossovers that are already at that price.

[ksa8907]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Again I say there is no profit in a sub $15,000 anything automotive made and sold in the USA. Probably in anything sub $20,000. So they could either bulk up the content of the little cars and try an push them up to the over $20,000 mark but then nobody would buy them over the crossovers that are already at that price.

They're in business to make money, not break even. They're making money.

If a produvt line is not performing at a certain level, it makes sense to stop production of the less profitable item and produce more of the more profitable one.

[freebeard]

Again I say there is no profit in a sub $15,000 anything automotive made and sold in the USA. Probably in anything sub $20,000.

True [potentially] until Arcimoto started shipping at $11,900. I don't know that their making profit, but still...

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by freebeard

True [potentially] until Arcimoto started shipping at $11,900. I don't know that their making profit, but still...

Arcimoto is technically a motorcycle, if it were a car with all the car standards and requirements I bet it would push $20k. Heck it might push that with all the options checked once it's ready nationwide.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Arcimoto is technically a motorcycle, if it were a car with all the car standards and requirements I bet it would push $20k. Heck it might push that with all the options checked once it's ready nationwide.

https://www.cars.com/for-sale/search...28880&zc=54901

There are 26,000 brand new untitled cars in the US
Priced from $8000 - $15,000

Regardless of profit there are quite a few of them for sale

[Ecky]

Profit or not, they keep the factories running.

If I may make a comparison to the tech industry, Intel chases margins, aiming for (I believe) around 60%. They're generally not willing to decrease margins to increase volume. This was a problem when they attempted to get into the phone space with their mobile Atom CPUs; prices were not competitive with ARM CPUs. As I understand it, Intel offered incentives (contra revenue) to bring their Atoms more in line while still being able to claim high margins, but by the time they got around this they'd missed the boat. They might have been able to bull their way in by undercutting, but they chose instead to keep to their (shrinking) high margin areas.

One problem with Intel's strategy is that while margins look good for investors, it's short-sighted. Overall profit is important, even at the expense of margins, because you have to keep funding R&D, fabs have basically fixed costs, and much research is cross-applicable. After decades of technical superiority, their fabs are falling behind Samsung, TSMC and Global Foundries. The volume of chips put into phones and other small devices allows other fabs to be better funded.

I see cutting small vehicles as pandering to Wall Street.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

There are 26,000 brand new untitled cars in the US
Advertised from $8000 ...

Fixed that for you.


Sorry to go OT. But I hate when dealers stack/combine rebates and promotions to advertise a price that approximately one unicorn buyer in the entire country might actually qualify for.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Fixed that for you.


Sorry to go OT. But I hate when dealers stack/combine rebates and promotions to advertise a price that approximately one unicorn buyer in the entire country might actually qualify for.

That’s mainly a Nissan thing, with an occasional Chevy dealer

The lowest priced units actually have no incentives or requirements and are all $7500+ Cash brand new 18 Mirages.

[MetroMPG]

(Some) Mitsubishi dealers are offenders in the unobtainable stacked rebates game. So I wasn't surprised that there were a bunch of $8k Mirages in the list. I doubt anyone could actually get one at that price.

(The exception was when the parent company briefly had a staggering $3500 factory cash back offer. Currently they're only offering $1k.)


/ OT from me!