The new Ford

[Louie]

I am interested to see where Hackett takes Ford. He's an 'out of the box' guy. To compete you must adapt.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-is-no-longer-a-car-company-2017-5

[chilly460]

If you look at the current state, Ford has a pretty good product overall.  Fiesta competes well in the teeny car market, Focus is still competitive, Fusion is getting a little long in the design but was one of the few trendsetters in the midsize market.  The Taurus is a decent car, but IMO needs to be updated and more "flagship" worthy after a pretty long design run.  Mustang is doing fine for the time being but will need an update to compete with the new Camaro platform, F150 is gaining more and more acceptance with the EcoBoost and I'm seeing more of them as tow vehicles than other makes. 

As "car guys" we look at the design/reliability/power of the vehicle platform.  However, as kids get older and move into the market, cars will have to be rolling mobile devices.  Like it or not, smart phones and iPads drive what kids do today, and Ford will be missing the boat if they don't integrate autos with these technologies moving forward.  I'll try not to go into a diatribe on "today's kids", but just say that they're not like any generation before in many ways, so best to learn about them and develop product to match their buying decisions if you want to survive. 

[turbohunter]

How are the Ecoboosts' lasting as tow vehicles? That's what would hold me back. Anyone have a read on that?
Why will the mustangs need an update to compete with the camaro's platform chilly.

[chilly460]

No idea on Ecoboost longevity as just now some heavy use fleet vehicles are hitting the 200k mileage mark where I'd say reliability can start to be measured.  At least in my mind, modern vehicles seem to hit 150k with relative ease, so 200k is the number I use to determine longevity in an engine family. 

The newer Mustangs gained weight, the Alpha chassis Camaro lost some so they're 100-150lbs lighter now with more power, so the Mustang lags.  Camaro has better handling platform, more power, lots more torque down low....Mustang has fallen behind.  The Mustang's usability helps it, but eventually it will need an update to stay with the Camaro in sales.  Camaro's are .5-.8sec and 5mph faster in the 1/4 if looking at standard numbers, that matters to buyers "on the fence".   

[Rory428]

Just like in the 60s and early 70s, the percentage of buyers that care about 1/4 performance, or skidpad numbers is likely extremely small when looking at sales numbers. I doubt that even 1% of new Mustangs, Camaros, or Challengers will ever see a dragstrip or slalom course. I am hardly an auto executive,  but I think Ford pulled a real bonehead move when they dropped 3 of their old, yet popular platforms a while back, the Ranger, Crown Victoria, and Econoline van.  All 3 models must ahve been fairly cheap to build, as the basic platform had changed little for years, yet all seemed to sell quite well.  Ford pretty much had the entire police car market in North America all to themselves, and they gave it away when they killed the Crown Vics. Yes, there are some Taurus cop cars, but I see many more Dodge Chargers and Chevys as police cars. Econoline vans were everywhere, and provided the chassis for most Class C motorhomes, I can not recall seeing any Transit Connect vans (made in Turkey, of all places!) filling in that void. And I see Rangers everywhere, they were the last "small" PU truck available. When I heard that Ford planned to discontinue the Ranger, I ordered a new 2010 Ranger for a daily driver, 130,000 on the odometer now, & I still love this little truck. I needed a smaller vehicle that gets decent mileage, and is easy to parallel park downdown every day, the Ranger fits the bill perfectly. No it won`t tow much, I have my F350 Dually for that, but I sure would not want to drive that in city gridlock every day! Even a F150 is bigger than I would want to drive to work every day.

[Katz427]

I was kind of surprised that Mark was let go. He was the lead for the "Way Forward " plan under Alan. However several year's ago there was a study released by a "think tank" that really laid out the future for the automobile and it really got attention from a lot of auto executives and one was Billy Ford. One big fact from the study was that people no longer wanted to spend time just riding in a car. The new generation wanted to recapture that time spent and that meant a new way of transporting people to places and places to people. I think basically the study saw how so many are tied to their cell phones and lap tops. I myself was late to the cell phone thing. But as we all see everyday ,texting,facebook, Twitter is how the young communicate.
That said Joe Heinrich and Jim Farley will run the car business  and they are pretty smart cookies. Heinrich has been a real plus for Ford IMO. Bill Ford handles the long range with Hackett, and Edsel II is more into the current business and the performance thing. I think it will work.

[Katz427]

Another part to this may be the fact that about 1/3 of car loans are "non performing" meaning no payment for 2-3 months. Lots of reports work for the loan companies. A company that finance's mainly GM but does do other makes related that it had losses of $800 million from the latest filing 2015. The cost of cars and trucks and a shrinking middle class IMO.

[Falcon67]

That.  I'd love a newer F350 DRW but not at $50K.  I'll keep the 93 and just put a fresh motor in it and save $44,000 or so.  We like the Fusion Hybrid but resale is crap - on year 3 of note and still owe about $8K more than the car is worth retail here.  So $600 payments continue.  If we could get rid of that, we'd have some spare $ to spend in the economy.

[Rory428]

I hear you about the price of new trucks!  Since I normally tend to keep vehicles quite a while (I have owned my Fairmont for 31 years so far, my previous 74 F350 for 26 years), I factory ordered my Ranger, as they did not have exactly what I wanted on any local lots. I didn`t want to pay extra for stuff I wouldn`t want or use, or a color I didn`t like. A six week wait was a small issue for getting the truck I wanted. I have looked at F350s that were on the lot, and most were almost all loaded  crew cab 4x4 diesels with price tags of between $75,000 to $83,000 Canadian! (the Canadian Dollar is pretty weak these days, hovering at about 74 cents compared to the US Dollar).  I don`t know how so many people are paying for these new trucks! And with all the stupid accidents caused by distracted driving, giving young people even more doodads and gadgets to play with, rather than concentrate on actually driving seems like a bad idea to me. I guess I am just too old!

[cjshaker]

I'd love a newer F350 DRW but not at $50K.

x2!!
No way I can afford a new truck. That's why I bought a solid '70 F350, which when it's all said and done after a total mechanical rebuild and restoration, I'll have about $12,000 in it and it'll last me the rest of my life. Plus I get the enjoyment of the rebuild. To guarantee it's longevity, it'll be parked in the snow/salt months and I'll drive my '95 Ranger with 215,000 miles. Still runs great too!

You can find some great deals though. Last year at work, we bought a brand new F250 Super Duty for about $16k. It was a hold-over that didn't sell because it's basic white and stripped of every option except AC. Your typical utility type truck. I thought that was a pretty decent deal, considering. But I still have a better truck, and for less money

[Falcon67]

You can find some great deals though. Last year at work, we bought a brand new F250 Super Duty for about $16k. It was a hold-over that didn't sell because it's basic white and stripped of every option except AC. Your typical utility type truck. I thought that was a pretty decent deal, considering. But I still have a better truck, and for less money

That's part of the problem here - Our 2004 F150 Crew was just like I like - bench seats, cloth, AC, cruise/window package, 5.4L and that's it.  Out here in west Texas you'd think there would be a big market for "utility" trucks - farm/ranch, oil field, wind farm and such.  Well, from walking the lots you'd apparently be wrong.  Out of maybe 200 trucks we've looked at over the last year or so I found 2 (two) "stripper" vinyl seat type configurations under $45,000.  Everybody including the old farmers wants Texas Edition, leather seats w/buckets and console, nav, Sync, aluminum wheels, stainless gee-gaws, etc, etc because that's what the dealers stock.  The Ford dealer in Weatherford had maybe 80~100 trucks on their huge lot and I think we found 3 or 4 under $50K.  There are "used" but except for maybe one they all look beat to hell because that's what people do - buy a Cadillac equipped pickup and proceed to drive it like it's a rental.  I-20 here is posted at 75 MPH.  We spend 35 miles a day on it and I run 80~85.  Daily I'm tailgated by F250, 350, C2500, Dodge Ram DRW, service trucks, etc.  Between cities, not out in the middle of nowhere.

[chris401]

In a fantasy world auto makers and internet providers would use there technology to prohibit driver useage of distracting devices unless used in a self driving car.


Along with dependable trucks story I put a clutch in a 95? 7.3 F350 4x4 Crew Cab utility truck with 45?,??? miles on it. What stuck out in my mind was the Ford grey gasket maker on the oil pan. That is what we used to warranty leaking oil pans. Altbough you can buy it over the counter I have always wondered if that was the original engine. By the looks of the tool box bed and undercarriage I woud guess it was not all highway miliage.