Ford's worst quarter EVER!

[bennelson]

Back in January 2007, the Washinton post reported how the Ford Motor Company had reported a loss of $12.7 billion in 2006, the worst in its 103 year history.*

In the same article, "Ford...blamed the loss in 2006 on a profit collapse in its truck-dependent North American division.

Today, Ford reported a second-quarter loss of $8.7 billion - the worst quarter ever.

Of course most of us sort of expect that. We hear in the news every day about the cost of food, energy, and healthcare. We hear about the housing market and banks going bankrupt.

But we plan ahead, we change as we have to, as do the motor companies.

In May, the F-150, the "best-selling vehicle in America" was outsold by Honda's Civic and Accord and Toyota's Camry and Corolla. None of which are pickup trucks, and all of which are know as well-built, fuel-efficient vehicles.

So, Ford is changing right?

In June, Green Car Congress reported
that "Ford Motor Company will produce the new Ford Fiesta small car for North America at the company’s transformed Cuautitlán Assembly Plant—currently producing F-Series (F-150 to F-550) pickups for the Mexican market—beginning in early 2010."
North America - that means the Fiesta may or may NOT even be for sale in the United States. And sales two years from now aren't doing Ford any good this summer.


Take a look at Ford's main web page. In the "Vehicle Showroom" feature for the Ford brand, six of the vehicles are "cars", everything else is a pickup, SUV or crossover. And that's only if you count the Focus and Mustang twice.

While the Ford Escape Hybrid offers greatly improved city mileage over it's standard engine brother, it comes at a premium of about $8000 extra. That's if you can find one. This spring, when I checked on availability of that vehicle, I found that there was only one, literally just one, for sale at any dealership in the entire state!

For years, auto manufacturers have been saying that they just are giving the public what it wants, and that's trucks and SUVs. Ford has continued its manufacturing based on outdated modes of thought about what people want in a vehicle.

Right now, what the public wants is something affordable to operate - not another gas guzzler.

Will Ford make changes to its lineup quick enough to continue as one of the major manufactureres, or will "Built Ford Tough" simply not be good enough?







*Sources: Washington Post, January 26, 2007; page D01
www.autoblog.com 2008/06/03

[Will]

It's their own damn fault. Everyone new these gas prices were coming. They should have been proactive. That might be their downfall...

[atomicradish]

I thought the Fiesta was supposed to be released in late 2009. That's kind of disappointing

The SUV market is still thriving where I live. I was walking into Wal-Mart today and I did a comparison between pick-ups/SUVs and cars. The ratio had to be at least 5 to 1 in favor of pickups/SUVs, and the smallest car I could find was a Ford Taurus. My little Geo was probably the only subcompact there!

Hicktown, USA still feels it is too good for smaller cars. I hope they enjoy working to drive to work.

[tjts1]

Whatever. Maybe you should read the actual earnings release along with the balance sheets before you start the high and mighty finger wagging.
Ford Motor Company :: Ford Reports $8.7 Billion Net Loss For Second Quarter 2008, Including Pre-Tax Special Charges of $8 Billion; Company Also Details Accelerated Transformation Plan+
-Net loss of $8.7 billion, or $3.88 a share
-$5.3 billion for Ford North America long-lived assets (write down of unsold asset)
-$2.1 billion for Ford Motor Credit Company's operating lease portfolio (write down of unsold asset)
-Pre-tax loss of $1 billion from continuing operations
-Automotive gross cash at June 30 of $26.6 billion
The market cap of the whole company is $11.4b

Did Ford management screw up? BIG TIME! Ford management has represented nepotism at its worst. But look who is running the company now.
Alan Mulally - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the next 24 months they have commited to bring the Fiesta, Euro Focus, Mondeo, Transit and C-max to the US market. They have $26b to burn through while they retool the factories from body on frame trucks to Small European cars. I will seriously consider buying the stock anywhere under $4.50. Ford is not going away. If anything, they will be bought out for a large premium.

[Blue07CivicEX]

which of the big 3 will be put up for sale first? I would almost say Chrysler due to the fact they have NOTHING efficient but they haven't been in the news much lately like ford and GM have.

[Miller88]

I think body on frame pickups are going to sell regardless. Almost every work truck I see is a ford.

Ford's problem is they don't have any interesting vehicles, IMO.

[atomicradish]

Originally Posted by Blue07CivicEX

which of the big 3 will be put up for sale first? I would almost say Chrysler due to the fact they have NOTHING efficient but they haven't been in the news much lately like ford and GM have.

Chrysler was already put up for sale and bought buy a private investor.

Why would anyone want a Chrysler?

[return2pa]

Have no fear, the Fiesta is already confirmed for the USA, not just "North America"
Definitely on my list of cars to look at to replace my Festiva.

[Miller88]

Originally Posted by atomicradish

Chrysler was already put up for sale and bought buy a private investor.

Why would anyone want a Chrysler?

Good question. Firsthand experience says it is for a reason other than quality.

[Will]

Honestly, there is a large part of me that wants the gas prices to stay this high, or even higher. I know, it sounds horrible, but I think that we need to do something PDQ. Having to pay out the butt for gas is the only thing that is going to make us change in a way that benefits our planet and ourselves.