Ford getting out of the car business...

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
This is interesting...
Ford dropping all but 2 cars from its North American dealerships
I've often heard it said that the real profits are in SUVs and trucks (hell, look at the prices) and that the Big 3 have essentially become "truck companies that also sell cars".

I personally find it hard to believe though that that few people actually want a normal "car" like car. I kinda like the Focus. Was actually debating if a used one might be my next car.
 
That is interesting. With modern day SUVs getting the same mpg with 2-3x the HP than most cars from 25 years ago, who wouldn't want to switch?
 
Sound more like a Study, & Doubt any changes could be finalized in 2 years or less. As for the article, talking about Chevy, I've seen More Tiny Chevy's lately, than I Knew they even made!
 
Same thinking that led to all the bail out money for GM and Chrysler. When gas hits $4 again they will be scrambling to ramp up car production.
 
junkxj said:
Same thinking that led to all the bail out money for GM and Chrysler. When gas hits $4 again they will be scrambling to ramp up car production.
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yes and no. My first thought was exactly the same. However as noted, these days the fuel efficiency difference between a sedan and a crossover is pretty small. Trucks and bigger SUVs of course, yes, still bad by comparison.
But the numbers don't lie - people still buy trucks and SUVs etc by, er, the truckload. It's where the money is.
I just find it really unfortunate that because of the need for increasing profit margins, they will be cutting off a portion of their potential customer base. E.g. it sucks for those people who actually would prefer a smaller car (like folks living in bigger cities where space is an issue) b/c their options will decrease. The Focus has a pretty huge fan following.
I guess the rules of capitalism should apply, and another company will spring up to fill in that market segment (basically they are just conceding it to Hyundai or Mazda or whomever).

You d have to wonder also how much of this is driven/allowed by the repeal of the CAFE standards
 
RatLabGuy said:
yes and no. My first thought was exactly the same. However as noted, these days the fuel efficiency difference between a sedan and a crossover is pretty small. Trucks and bigger SUVs of course, yes, still bad by comparison.
But the numbers don't lie - people still buy trucks and SUVs etc by, er, the truckload. It's where the money is.
I just find it really unfortunate that because of the need for increasing profit margins, they will be cutting off a portion of their potential customer base. E.g. it sucks for those people who actually would prefer a smaller car (like folks living in bigger cities where space is an issue) b/c their options will decrease. The Focus has a pretty huge fan following.
I guess the rules of capitalism should apply, and another company will spring up to fill in that market segment (basically they are just conceding it to Hyundai or Mazda or whomever).

You d have to wonder also how much of this is driven/allowed by the repeal of the CAFE standards
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I guess time and consumer taste will tell if this is a wise move or not.
I just wonder the wisdom of such a decision when very recently Volkswagen was the top auto seller in the world. And for the most part they offer no real trucks.....
 
junkxj said:
I just wonder the wisdom of such a decision when very recently Volkswagen was the top auto seller in the world. And for the most part they offer no real trucks.....
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VW only controls a few percent of the US market.
 
junkxj said:
I guess time and consumer taste will tell if this is a wise move or not.
I just wonder the wisdom of such a decision when very recently Volkswagen was the top auto seller in the world. And for the most part they offer no real trucks.....
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That's global. This is just US market. Note VW has a small market share here.
Ford is just going for a different portion of the market bc its where the money is.
If they decrease sales by 10%, but profit goes up by 20% then they have won out.
Remember it's not about selling the most - it's about making the most $$ total.
 
RatLabGuy said:
If they decrease sales by 10%, but profit goes up by 20% then they have won out.
Remember it's not about selling the most - it's about making the most $$ total.
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The fact of the matter is that Ford/GM/FCA aren't competing in the car market. They've got a shitpile of them sitting around that nobody wants to buy, so they've decided the most prudent business decision is to stop making them.

It's no different than what happened in 08 when the truck/SUV market collapsed, it's just in reverse.
 
shawn said:
The fact of the matter is that Ford/GM/FCA aren't competing in the car market. They've got a shitpile of them sitting around that nobody wants to buy, so they've decided the most prudent business decision is to stop making them.

It's no different than what happened in 08 when the truck/SUV market collapsed, it's just in reverse.
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The real potential looser here is the rental car user and municipalities. Of course, most of the cops around here are driving SUVs these days anyway. Not sure if rentals are mostly american these days because of cost or some sort of requirement. Guess we will start to see more KIA and Hyundai.
 
shawn said:
It's no different than what happened in 08 when the truck/SUV and overpriced housing market collapsed, it just hasn't happened again YET.
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FIFY
 
jeepinmatt said:
FIFY
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I agree completely.......no offense to any new vehicle owners. You gotta be some kind of wealthy, stubborn, or I'm not real sure what to buy something disposable in the end that cost more than my first house. I just do not understand at all what drives people to spend 2/3rds of an income on vehicles. Maybe its just my income bracket.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
The real potential looser here is the rental car user and municipalities. Of course, most of the cops around here are driving SUVs these days anyway. Not sure if rentals are mostly american these days because of cost or some sort of requirement. Guess we will start to see more KIA and Hyundai.
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It's whatever deals they get for fleet volume, and a lot of the slow selling models get dumped on the rental market for huge discounts too. I rent a lot of cars and it's a big mixture of almost everything. We see lots of domestic, but also lots of Hyundai and Toyota, etc., and even Subaru in some parts of the country.
 
junkxj said:
I just wonder the wisdom of such a decision when very recently Volkswagen was the top auto seller in the world. And for the most part they offer no real trucks.....
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Was that VW, or VAG? There's a lot of European car companies under the VAG corporate umbrella. They own MAN and Scania, so they make some pretty big trucks. Also, there's the VW Amarok pickup (same class as Tacoma/HiLux, etc), which is actually pretty cool for a VW product.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
Guess we will start to see more KIA and Hyundai.
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That's all I see at the airports anyway for "compact" and even "full size" o_O

Use to a crown Vic was "full size" and now IF you can get a Honda, the accord is considered "full size" but likely it's a Kia optima
 
I'd bet ford is just going to move their car lines into their Mazda brand.
 
Ron said:
I'd bet ford is just going to move their car lines into their Mazda brand.
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pretty sure they sold mazda
 
shrug...shows what I know.
 
jeepinmatt said:
FIFY
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The only reason the truck sales dove in 08' was the gas price hikes and shortages.

I'd contest that the housing crash was unrelated- just happened at the same time and one fed the other from a fear basis.

Housing is way more ridiculous now and is continuing to go that direction. I don't see a housing crash anytime soon but I don't know how housing is affordable anymore. Heard that the median price in the US is now around $335k!

Back on topic, Ford vehicles lost my vote a long time ago. I don't understand the SUV craze but I can see how cars aren't really popular as they can't haul a bunch of crap around.
 
Dirt Mcgert said:
I wonder if they are doing it because of the CAFE standards , I think a truck only company (GMC) cant skirt some fuel economy standards
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They're not going to be trucks-only. They'll still make the Mustang and the Focus.

The CAFE standards are a sort of perverse incentive, though. If a manufacturer sold a lot of SUVs and trucks, they had to balance that out by manufacturing a pile of more-efficient cars and dumping them on municipalities, corporate users, rental fleets, etc (often at a loss) to help balance out their fleet-wide efficiency standards. Switching to smaller DI turbo motors on SUVs and trucks has improved economy in those segments, so it's less of an issue now maybe than it used to be.
 
broncosbybart said:
Housing is way more ridiculous now and is continuing to go that direction. I don't see a housing crash anytime soon but I don't know how housing is affordable anymore. Heard that the median price in the US is now around $335k!
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this reflects my statement.......must be my income bracket.

Absolutely no way I could swing a house payment for anything near that cost. Let alone live or even own a car payment at that price point.

So in the same line of thinking is everybody around me and the income they make far exceeding 40k a year????? Or are fewer people buying houses? I see plenty of folk in debt to their arse, renting, and buying the latest auto have to have (read diesel smoke wagon or SUV for a family of two).
 
On another note the only thing saving all the truck manufactures, Nissan and Toyota now included is one fact. Not one single manufacturer makes a compact or small pick up. Not one. If Kia made a older Ranger, S10, or even smaller variant I think the market wouldn't' shift but a lot of people would be tickled to death to own one for a daily run around. Especially if they hit a market of useful very efficient vehicles that didn't become entirely feminized to a Prius Carryall.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
On another note the only thing saving all the truck manufactures, Nissan and Toyota now included is one fact. Not one single manufacturer makes a compact or small pick up. Not one. If Kia made a older Ranger, S10, or even smaller variant I think the market wouldn't' shift but a lot of people would be tickled to death to own one for a daily run around. Especially if they hit a market of useful very efficient vehicles that didn't become entirely feminized to a Prius Carryall.
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Mahindra tried that here, but it didn't work out (for other reasons than the auto market).
 
Fabrik8 said:
Mahindra tried that here, but it didn't work out (for other reasons than the auto market).
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Your not referring to the Jeep copy are you?
 
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