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Cadillac Forums: Malibu... ITS ON! 2010 Ford Taurus SPIED
I'm still confused as to why Ford initially spent so much time, money and effort on the foreign markets while practically starving their home market of anything even resembling fun.
Because they actually had to work harder and build quality products in order to compete in the European market. That and they gave damn-near autonomous control over to their Euro division.
For how long did Ford have it's place in the American market? They didn't have to build anything competitive because for the longest time their only competition was GM and Chrysler... and way back when folks were a lot more brand loyal - so a Ford guy was going to buy a Ford badge.. regardless of what garbage it was affixed to. But it didn't matter because none of the other Big 3 were doing anything different.
Like I said.. Ford's only problem is Ford. GM has already waken up and is starting to make big changes... all they needed was a big enough push - and that more or less came when Toyota started making heavy blows.
Chrysler has just been in very unfortunate circumstances... I don't care how people feel about their cars, but MB had no friggin' clue how to run Chrysler... everything done was with Mercedes' benefit in mind. They still have a chance though, as ownership changed hands only recently... look how many years it's taken the General to right the ship and even they have a ways to go still.
Then you've got Ford... who is suffering the catastrophic effects of both middle child syndrome and perpetual runner-up syndrome. When you spend so many years being number 2... it's not as big of a deal being number 3 or 4 or 5 etc... It's not like losing the top spot. They just neither get it nor think they have as much to lose... A lot of it also stems from the family - the Ford family needs to get out of the business and right away. None of the current crop of Fords have the vision and foresight of Henry, nor the cutthroat instincts of Henry II... they're nothing but a bunch of spoon-fed pansies who've watched the value of the Class-B stocks plummet from billions to jack-squat.
If it keeps up... the Ford family will be seen by history as one of the greatest entrepreneurial failures of America.
Ford gave up on their home market when the home market gave up on Ford and started transitioning to foreign vehicles.
At some point in the past they reached a fork in the road and apparently decided to focus on expansion and innovation in foreign markets while the U.S. customer base was out to lunch. Figuring (erroneously) that the legacy clientele that had ALWAYS been Ford faithful would simply continue to accept the mediocre products they had been churning out for years by that time already. For a while this approach was successful, even culminating in the acquisition of the PAG group throughout the 90s and 00s while the home turf was left un-tended.
The story, as well all know however, turned out very differently once the bottom fell out of the domestic market. If you ignore a bad tooth long enough its eventually going to work loose and fall out or disintegrate altogether. Then they realized that overseas profits no matter how good, were not going to stem the massive tide of loss here in the U.S., but alot of damage had already been done. Apparently now they're trying to get back to their roots, firesaleing all the ancillary brands they can and rebuilding the home market. Hopefully, they won't repeat their past mistakes again.
__________________ "You ough'ta go and find a brain sale... And find a cheap one, cause you ain't got no trade-in!" - Red Fox
Yeah, but the F-150 is still #1 selling truck in USA for 148 years in a row.
You know... that's always ruffled my feathers a bit. I don't know what sort of old boy's gentlemen's agreement there is between GM and Ford, but the GMT900/800 1500 series sells more than the F150. I don't care if they have two different badges on them either... they're the same damn truck, and they should be counted the same... especially since we know damn well that if the Sierra wasn't available, those buyers would go for the Silverado.
You know... that's always ruffled my feathers a bit. I don't know what sort of old boy's gentlemen's agreement there is between GM and Ford, but the GMT900/800 1500 series sells more than the F150. I don't care if they have two different badges on them either... they're the same damn truck, and they should be counted the same... especially since we know damn well that if the Sierra wasn't available, those buyers would go for the Silverado.
Yeah, that technicality has always perturbed me too--just slightly. I'm an equal fan of both, for their own merits, but Ford saying they have the best selling, regardless of the fact that it's against 1 of a pair of models. Then again, GM wants each to be seen separately--Chevy and GMC--even if they are the "same", so maybe it's a valid point. It's a weird one, at least as far as the numbers go.
I heard that last year Ford let a bunch of new commercial F-150's go quite cheap to different work compnaies just to keep the claim.... I don't remember the artical.
I like all the American trucks, so to me it really doesn't matter. Most all of the trucks for my compnay are Ford... Ranger, F-150 and F-250, basic ones.
If GM's U.S. design team can bend over for Holden, and all their cool designs end up in China (that Shanghai Riviera concept not withstanding...).....Ford can bring over their European models...
FORMER
1992 Toronado (1995-1999)
1999 Grand Prix GTP (1999-2002)
2002 Avalanche North Face (2002-2004)
1993 Roadmaster (2004-2007)
2004 Avalanche Z71 (2004-2007)
1997 Riviera S/C (2006-2008)
