Ford
Ford Motor Co.'s Board of Directors Begin 2-Day Meeting to Consider Sweeping Restructuring Plan
DETROIT (AP) -- Ford Motor Co.'s board of directors began a two-day meeting Wednesday to consider a sweeping restructuring plan the company hopes will help pull it out of a slump. Thousands of jobs are on the line and several plants may shut down to help the nation's No. 2 automaker overcome rising costs and the loss of market share to foreign rivals.
Last week it was GM, now Ford...whats up with these American Car manufacturers ?
posted by brain freeze at 12:28 AM
4 Comments:
I am not much into cars, but I will attempt to put down my thoughts on this.
For me, and many of my friends, and for generally many publications, Japanese cars have come to exemplify quality, safety and better gas mileage. And whether we have the opposite opinion on the Ford and such cars or not, it is playing negatively on them.
Till such time that this image is dealt with, it would be hard for these companies to sustain their sales, profitability and competitiveness.
They need to throw open challenge to compete with the Japanese cars on many levels including providing the image of efficient car-making. My recommendation would be to advertise not just the shiny car going in to the fall-colored roads but also of the great american factories where the cars are made, of how their employees play smart roles in making sure that the car is of great value, of how these cars have come of age and are equal to if not better than the Japanese models.
9:55 PM
Japanese car manufacturers are showing profit but these guys aren't.
I read somewhere that the cost of
making a car is very high for American cars i.e. efficiency is low. Plus this whole retirement thing is costing them dearly
3:20 AM
FORD is widely used as an acronym for: Fix or Repair Daily. This clearly shows the image Ford has among the average american today. 30 years ago there weren't too many choices in the car industry, it was either GM, Ford or Chrysler. Earlier, the average american also identified the car that he owns as an indication of his patriotism. Now the auto industry has competition from manufacturers from Japan, Korea and Germany which are far superior in quality. The american is no longer looking for an expression of patriotic feelings. Hence the trend towards foriegn owned cars.
However, there are couple of things to note:
1. American cars are definitely better in terms of styling and design. The Japanese cars are extremely bland (may be with the exception of Nissan in my opinion). Korean car companies are heavily plagiarising american car designs. Ford/GM need to capitalize on this differentiator.
2. Ford/GM have a huge amount of money flowing their companies ($200MM/year). They need to look at GE in terms of transforming themselves into financial behemoths which will relieve them of some pressure.
6:20 PM
American cars suffer from reliability issues. That is their problem. I used to own a ford and was glad to get rid of it after 4 years (warranty period). It sat in the shop longer than it sat in my garage. Have been using an Acura since then..no problems whatsoever.
From a style perspective, I am not sure..yes they do build more muscle cars...more tough looking..but in the long run..they are not great cars..
Ford and GM probably have money coming in but their costs are higher..thanks to Medical and retirement benefits for employees. For a long time they tried to blame the japanese govt for subsidizing the Japanese manufacturers. But this ain't true - Honda and Toyota built a combined total of 1.8 million cars this year in the US all with US employees and they have been able to keep their costs under control.
On an average each Japanese car brings in $3500 more than an American company. These guys need to clean up internally..they don't seem to be doing that...
Now when the shit hits the roof..all hell breaks loose..
8:56 PM
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