Breaking: Ford Fusion sales spiking, DC off another 3.2%

After a really bad introduction, there appears to be a glimmer of hope for FoMoCo. Reports on CNBC and in the press are, and are confirmed by sitings locally, that sales of the mid-sized Ford Fusion are starting to take off like a rocket. Sales for the compact Focus are also starting to take off. According to sales figures for October, FoMoCo has outperformed not only GM and DC, but also Toyota and Honda with an 8% sales increase in October, traditionally the worst month of the year for car sales. I've yet to see a new Dodge Nitro on the road, and, as has been seen in here, dealers appear to be trying to foist them on customers. DC doesn't seem to "get it"...it's over for trucks and truck-based SUVs, as well as the gashog Hemi Magnums and

300s. Just yesterday, I saw no less than five new Fusions and their L-M twin, the new Montego, as well as a handful of new Focusi. The only place you see new 300s is down in "de ghetto," and DC dealers can't give away new Dodge trucks, just as GM dealers can't give away new Suburbans and other gashogs.

I bought Ford for $8.30 today...I'm not going to miss an opportunity like I did with Chrysler at $2 a share! Had I made the move I have contemplated back then, I'd easily be a millionaire today. That's the last time I listened to Republican "fear mongering."

Reply to
DeserTBoB
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SIGHTINGS....LOL!

Reply to
DeserTBoB

I'm looking for the bottom too. I'm just not sure they're really going to pull it out. Your method of spotting the turnaround, such as sales figures of the eye, or seeing black folks driving 300's, etc., might not be the smartest, but the behavior of the stock sure says that other people think it's turning around too.

Reply to
Joe

It depends on if Mulally runs the Ford family out of the board room or not. If the Fords keep meddling, FoMoCo is finished forever.

Well, those are "rubber meets the road" features, and they are relevant and real...the market, at least in October, was right for Ford, bad for GM and DC, not so hot for Toyota and Honda. One thing the market is figuring out for itself is that a Fusion offers equivalent car vis à vis a Camry for about $3K less, and doesn't have the still-vanilla visage and cachet of the Camry name. One GOOD month doth not a turnaround make, but it may make for a good, small, short play.

As it is, Ford has enough cash to get through, IF Mulally wins his battles with the Ford family. If not, down the crapper they go...taking common stock holders with them. Also, do not forget these two factors. First, Ford's pension obligations aren't nearly as onerous as those of the horrendously bloated GM. Second, there will be regime change in Washington, despite what shills like Larry Kudlow and kOOks like Flush Limpdick say. Should that be reality, the Big 3 may eventually get Federal Pension Guarantee Board partial pension fund relief in return for, say, government mandated fuel cell or other alternative fuel development and marketing projects. Bill Clinton has already advanced that exact idea, and it has support of the minorities in both the House and Senate now. Due to mismanagement by the Bushies, FPGB is now severely under funded, and that can be rectified as soon as the US pulls out of the Iraq quagmire/money pit. When the Dems become the majorities, the idea will get a lot more ink but no action, due to veto pen power by Bush. Once Bush is gone, it could quickly become a reality, thus freeing participating manufacturers from billions in unfunded pension obligations.

This benefits GM more than either Ford or DC, surely, but GM has other endemic problems that are larger than their pension under funding crisis...their own corporate "culture." GM, so far, as proven resistant to change, only giving shareholders lip service so far that they really can do so. A record of botched new model roll-outs, poor quality, refusal to accept the end of the petroleum era in terms of product development and unintelligent plant closures show they're continuing to reward stupidity over at the "RenCen" HQ of GM. I do believe, however, especially with the pullout of Billy Ford, that major Ford powers-that-be are genuinely concerned about the direction and management of the company. Remember, King Henry II almost tanked Ford in the late '70s and early '80s before he got tossed out, pushed into a drunken retirement not-so-gently by William Clay Ford and other family members. Ford came back to really light a fire in '84 with the Taurus and Tempo roll-outs which set GM on its corporate ear. However, complacency and family meddling again started to sink the SS Ford to where they are now, but the pickup in Fusion sales, as well as major shutdowns of useless F-150 and Expedition/Navigator assembly lines, shows that Ford is taking the major market shift seriously now. You'll note that Ford's backlog inventory of trucks and gas guzzler SUVs is less than half of DC's. Those are Chrysler products packing the fairgrounds and storage lots all over Michigan...not Fords.

I've heard estimates of a floor being anywhere from $2 (unlikely) to $8 (somewhat likely.) Reality is probably that it'll form a bottom around $7, and then trade sideways until a real economic recovery is obvious, not the fake one happening in the present. From there, it either climbs up, or the company goes under from mismanagement. The one I REALLY worry about going under is GM. Their unfunded pension obligation exposure is roughly thrice that of Ford's, and they do not seem, at least from the outside, to be making any progress toward fixing their long-festering management problems at all.

Recent GM bright spot which hasn't hit the press yet: The Chevy Malibu "hatchback sedan." Dealers can't keep them in stock, and I've seen them all over the place just in the last few weeks. The regular sedan version is a slug, but is outselling last year's version according to GM's sales figs. Also picking up for GM: The HHR has finally started to sell somewhat well. This is bad for DC, as sales of this are direct defections from the PT Cruiser market.

Further signs of American stupidity: SUV sales were up in October from all three makers. Evidently, idiots think the decrease in oil prices is somehow going to last past November 8.

Reply to
DeserTBoB

BEWARE- DeserTBob is a useless troll, he collects SSI, and is destitute- the only stock he has, is his socks- he drives a 1978 HONDA !

Reply to
duty-honor-country

this is charley nudo from drums, pa. he's mad that bob ruined his ebay scam business and now is disrupting news groups every where he is. turn his fat stupid ass in to snipped-for-privacy@google.com to have this his current google accounts shut down. they have shut down about 15 of them so far and he still does not learn.

Reply to
=ViPeR=

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above is link to "viper's" actual contact info

he also used "tracker from hell"- see his posting history here:

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he's a foreign scumbag from Germany, that came to the UK, then to Canada, then snuck into the USA over the border illegally- he posts from a library

he is using (2) google accounts- he's a FOREIGN SCUMBAG

Reply to
duty-honor-country

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viper the pathetic troll, wishes he could afford a viper- but he can't even speak "Engleesh"

Reply to
duty-honor-country

I looked at is and drove the V6 a few city miles . I was impressed, it's on my short list. If only they had a SW. The smooth V6 and 6 sp transmission is very responsive.

The Focus is a very space effective car, particularly the SW, but I hope the NA models are quieter than the noisy Focus SW I rented for 3 weeks in the UK this spring. It appeared rear wheel noise was drumming in the large SW roof. I've also rented the Focus hatch a few times, it's not noisy. The fuel mileage of that UK Focus SW wasn't that great either. The Focus needs a modern engine, which the Fusion now has.

When in my Chrysler dealership a few weeks to look at the new Sebring, the salesman insisted I get in (climb in) the Nitro. They MUST be desperate as I'm the last one to buy one of those big ugly gas eating boxes, with inadequate luggage space for golf clubs.

True. They boxed themselves into ugly large vehicles that are no longer selling. When Chrysler Canada went to more than one shift for the 300 plant they publicly expressed concern about how long they would need more than one shift. They knew the 300 is a very emotional purchase for "some" middle age men, and many pimps. Now the plant was shut down for several weeks. Chrysler needs to stop using truck designers to design cars.

I made a few bucks on that Chrysler recovery in the 80s, lost a few on Ford a few years ago, I hope you are correct on Ford. Perhaps I'll get some Ford shares again, now that the Ford family has gone back to playing rich guy.

Reply to
Some O

True. He needs to get some control in Ford, it's out of control now.

Those 3 money losing UK brands need to be dumped, but who would take them? UK vehicle manufacturing is toast. BMW even took the UK's Mini to Germany. >:)

Tons of Mazdas being sold here, I don't need to read of their success. Not my kind of car though, sells mainly to the young. Very aggressive styling, the Focus needs some of that styling.

Volvo, good technology, but trying to do too much with one engine block. Is Volvo making money? The pricey bottom end Volvos are too small for my body.

$10B loss expected for the yr. Ugly!

From Business Week:

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Reply to
Some O

Billy Boy Ford was like a kid in a candy store, buying up losers like Jag and Volvo.

Some say Jag might make some money down the road, but I don't see it at all. Mulally may just opt to shut down the lines rather than try to sell them.

The oriignal Focus styling was on the "edgy" side, and then Billy Boy supposedly (per various sources) thought that the edgy styling was scaring away too many "conservative" buyers. Duh! The Focus would be selling a lot better now if they'd have just left the styling basically alone with a slight refresh. It would've save Ford a ton of money, as well. Despite the watered down styling, the Focus IS selling now. People want that fuel economy.

No.

Reply to
DeserTBoB

" a FOREIGN SCUMBAG"

A really relevant description. A number of us here do not live in the USA. Thanks for the compliment, sonny boy.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Reply to
Dori A Schmetterling

You could be reading too much into that, Dori. For example, if someone were described as a "French barber", that would not mean that all French are barbers - just like not all foreigners are scumbags. Or maybe he did mean that?

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

Don't mind him. It's just paranoid delusional rightard Charlie Nudo of Drums, PA, who is foaming at the mouth this Election Day, thinking that all his dreams about a US Nazi state are swirling down the crapper. Once the election's over, he'll go back into his bunker to go bonkers...hopefully sans a computer.

Reply to
DeserTBoB

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Wait until Ford comes out with their new hybrid, a cross between the Contour and the Fusion. It will be called the Confusion.

Reply to
Pete E. Kruzer

Or they could do a Mercury version: the Mystaque

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

Very good, my morning chuckle!

Reply to
Some O

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