Is Ford Running on Empty?

Tires!

Ed

Now, wait a minute - 50 years ago nobody would have thought products made overseas were better than those made in the U.S. We've changed, and it wasn't because of greater ignorance.

Something happened that convinced a lot of regular people to swear an oath against GM and Ford, or U.S. cars in general. I don't know anybody who'd rather not buy US-made products generally, but I know lots of people who wouldn't ever buy a U.S. branded car. Most of them will tell you how they got that way, if you ask them.

Better to figure out the reasons for change, rather than just imagining that everybody who changes does so by becoming more ignorant. That's not very likely.

I think you meant to say, "Sorry, I was wrong. I didn't realize Camry's had that much HP".

BTW, I

You're right about this. Ford's SUV's start with E, including crossovers. So the corporate position on the Freestyle is that it's a car. Cars start with F, generally, so the Freestyle is being marketed as a car.

Actually it is the reverse. Most people that switched to foreign cars got smart. The trouble for Detroit is that the Japanese know how to keep a customer coming back and they don't. ;)

Those things drove poorly, though, you have to admit if you've had the pleasure. 80/20 weight distribution isn't going to be the hot ticket, and they've all bit the dust. The Seville is still around, back to rear drive. I had a couple of Toronado daily drivers for years. Nice car, but drove like a pig.

I agree with the general direction of lymee's post - GM makes too many jellybean-type rental cars. Bad for their image, at least in my mind. Ford makes a lot of them too, to be fair. When the big 3 bought their rental car companies back years ago, I guess you could say there was an image cost to that.

I think you better just give up this whole line of reasoning.

I'll take 400 net horsepower over a 426 any day. Even if the superior performance of new Chryslers is all tires, I'll take it just because of the tires too. And the gas mileage, and the build quality, and the electrical system, and the air conditioning, and the body stiffness, and the handling, and the durability, and the emissions, and the seats, and the radio. Can't think of a thing about the old Hemis that was actually better. I never even liked the styling.

Actually, American car makers know how to keep costumers coming back. Otherwise, they wouldn't have costumers. No one who has owned a foreign car will go back and buy American ;-)

Seriously, a lot of people who own Chevies or Fords will replace the cars with the same make.

Jeff

GM, Ford and DC's market share drops every year and it has happened for several years running. If they don't stop the bleeding it is just a matter of time before Toyota will become the top seller in the US market. I want to buy American but every time we look at a new car I am get closer to choosing something foreign. I don't think the domestics are horrible but they have this stigma with the American public they are fighting of which some is deserved and some isn't. The Japanese makers build very good cars across the board and provide service that gives the buyer no reasons to not make their next purchase another Japanese car.

Here's my reason that the next car we buy (exclusive of a Mustang) probably won't be a Ford/Lincoln/Mercury. We purchased a Sable off the lot after our son totaled the T'Bird we drove for several years. The car we wanted had a slight warp in the front brake rotors and the dealer agreed to replace them before delivery of the car. We picked up the car and everything seemed fine. Then at a little over 12k miles the rotors warped again. I thought this was a slam dunk warranty fix. I was dead wrong. Come to find out the dealer only resurfaced the rotors at delivery instead of replacing them as agreed. Now they said we would have to pay for the fix (i.e. new rotors). I contacted Ford corporate and they sided with the dealer. Needless to say, you could have fried an egg on my forehead at this point. I am still pissed over this two years later. After buying Fords for two decades this is what I get for my loyalty. Somehow I doubt a Toyota dealer would treat a loyal customer this way. I'm sure I wouldn't get treated any worse.

Every year that group of people gets smaller.

How about this? A new hemi Charger is worth what, about $35-$40K? A '60s vintage Mopar in decent shape with a hemi is worth well over $100k.

Eisboch

On Fri, 21 Jul 2006 23:30:44 -0400, Joe rearranged some electrons to form:

Ford no longer owns Hertz, but they are providing these:

I was in Boston this week, and Hertz had FOUR of them on their lot. I would have rented one, except they wanted $200/day, and I would have had trouble justifying that on my expense report. :-(

Next to women, this is the next best thing

Who cares about the wardrobe people: what about the ones who buy the tickets? You know, the customers?

Jack

They keep coming back. Otherwise they would have no costumers.

Some of the American car brands do have high loyalty rates.

Jeff

~Whoosh~

Can't prove that by me, I came back to Ford Motor Company vehicles in 1999 after a half dozen Toyota and Lexus'. The Toyotas and the Lexus were great cars but the Toyotas were underpowered and the Lexus were over priced. Since I started buy Mustangs and Lincolns they too have been great cars. Certainly not underpowered, or overpriced. I have been buying both for much less than it was costing me to by Toyotas and Lexus'. In fact I saved so much on my first Lincoln, a 2000 LS, that I bought my first Mustang since

1964, a 1999 GT convertible at the same time. That FLM dealer treats me much better than did the Toyota or Lexus dealer ever did, as well Since then I have purchase four more Mustangs and three more Lincolns for him

mike

Imports sell to rental car companies too, they are just not as successful at getting many fleets to buy their vehicles. The Korean do a better job of doing that. The Koreans have a larger share of the fleet courier cars business than the domestics, Europeans or the Japs. ;)

mike hunt

You better take a look in you local GM and Ford dealers used car lots. They have quite a few Jap vehicles that have been traded on their vehicles. The very first retail Milan was sold at a Toyota, Lincoln Mercury dealership by a Toyota salesman and the trade was a 2003 Camry.

The owner was traveling and his tranny died on a local interstate. He was towed to the local Toyota dealer who was duel with LM. When told the tranny could not be repaired and a new tranny would take several days, to arrive at the dealership and be replace. Because of the mileage it was not covered by the warranty.

A sharp Toyota salesman suggest he might want to consider a new 2006 Camry. They took a ride in a car he liked and the salesman gave him a price, taking the wounded Camry in trade. While waiting for the Sales Manager to approve the deal the buyer walked over to the LM side. No skipping a beat the astute Toyota salesman took him for a ride in the Mercury he admired. He continue his trip in a loaded 2006 V6 Milan, that cost him around $5,000 less than the Camry deal he was offered

mike hunt