Poindexter

I just heard on the news that Ford announced a loss of over $120 Million in this past second quarter of the year

If my memory serves me right, they lost money in the first quarter and three quarters in 2005, but I think this is the most so far. How much longer can this continue? Eventually they will have to sell off some brands, ask the US government for help, or start closing down more stuff. They're already outsourcing R&D, but as expensive as that is who knows how long they can keep that up - where will they cut first? In order to get rid of unions they have to close down union shops, then reopen them somewhere else. I heard that $1500 of every Ford vehicle sold goes to employee benefits

The local Ford stores are selling half the cars they sold before 9/11's 0% market, and everyday the foreign brands move higher and higher up the ladder. I just got a friend of mine (an S2Ki member) a job as a tech at our BMW store last month - he used to work for Ford, and he was commenting to me how far advanced BMW is compared to Ford - like 15 years ahead of them for simple stuff. He said the new Fords were just coming out with stuff late 1980s BMW's had. It is obvious Ford is losing the race, but how far can one lose by? Anyone want to make predictions?

Let's not even begin to tackle GM

Lice Locket

Yea... not only that Ford is behind on old technology, they can't seem to keep up with new technology neither. For example, the average fuel economy for Japanese hybrids is 40 mpg, whereas Ford's average hybrid fuel economy is 26 mpg I think (around those numbers, but they were 40s and 20s, respectively). The Ford Escape hybrid is about 140 hp and gets 33 mpg. Compare that with the fuel economy of the 250 hp Accord hybrid and the 260 hp gasoline RAV4.

esracer

well yeah ford has been behind on technology for a long time, but honestly i think the Ford Fusion is a good step forward, but then again i heard mazda did most of the designing so then the fresh new look makes sense. Maybe they need to look at mazda more.

Chris Stack

The Fusion is not quite a rebadge Mazda 6 (there are some structural changes, and some minor dimension differences, I believe), but it's close.

rockville

I hope you are smart enough to figure out why that's an irrelevant/stupid comparison.

esracer

I agree, but the point is that Mazda is the main reason for the Fusion, which makes sense that it looks good, and does not look at all like the rest of the Fords.

rockville

Check out a second gen Mondeo. Ford clearly knows how to make a good sedan (even if they can't figure out how to sell it in the US ) Even the first gen Mondeo/Contour was a great driver's car. Far better than any 4 door Honda had.
That said, Ford didn't just go running to Mazda for a platform. They have declared that Mazda will be the center of excellence for their small car platforms. Why duplicate efforts?

Bobthearch

If Ford doesn't start closing and consolidating their excess production facilities, they're going to really suffer. Someone over there needs to start making the difficult decisions, and start doing it yesterday.

-Bob

JonBoy

I like the looks of the Ford Edge A LOT - don't think I'd ever buy it, but between that and the Fusion, I think Ford is at least making some good looking vehicles again. I still think the F150 is the nicest looking truck on the road these days (inside AND out).

no_really

How is Ford behind on technology? It seems tome that Honda's top the most stolen car lists year after year, while Ford equips every car with passive anti-theft. Ford has been using overhead cam V8 engines for well over a decade, while Honda has yet to bring a single V8 of any kind to market. And that's just two technologies. I don't think a Honda owner has much to say, when the big technology on a Honda engine (VTEC) dates back a decade or more. Any new engine tech from Honda has just been minor variations on that, whereas Ford has demonstrated the ability to mass produce bullet-proof supercharged V8's, bring to market variable cam timing at a cost far below the competition, and somehow keep their cars out of chop shops. Honda's got some catching up to do.