Ford USA to kill all passenger cars except Mustang, Focus Active

[Elks]

Ford Aus: We are killing of Falcon. Ranger and Mustang is all we need.

Ford USA: Hold my beer.....

[Sprintey]

On Maka's link, 25.5Bn in cost cuts to be announced. Nyt link showed net income 1.7Bn so cost cuts significant. Profit 2.2Bn @ 5.2% Losing money on focus fiesta fusion. Every region of world recorded decline in profits or a loss.

US10yrTnote threatening above 3% in background... Last time round Mulally was a genius securing cheap financing before GFC hit, saved the company but had hard decisions to make.

[Kieron]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

Also, is this not a complete repudiation of One Ford?

Trucks & SUV for US
hatches for EU
Thai utes for SE Asia & Oz
Sedans for China

Who would have thought distinct regions and peoples prefer distinct types of vehicle?

I don't see it that way. They will still be designing/building one car per market segment/sharing platforms, just not marketing cars that don't sell in certain countries. eg, UK, Europe and Aus will still have the Fiesta/Focus/Mondeo.

Pretty sure the Ranger will appear in the US and I believe is already available in the UK/Europe/China, I saw the Ford Edge in Shanghai a few months ago too.

So the One Ford philosophy is still maintained in my view as there aren't unique vehicles in different countries in the same market segment like Falcon/Taurus, Euro Focus/US Focus, Territory/Explorer etc.

[Kieron]

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

Is Ford Explorer continuing on ? It was based on a Taurus platform wasn’t it ? Or will Ford just sell Expeditions based on F trucks?

Taurus was D3, Explorer is D4 which SUV version of the D3 I think. No reason why they can't stop using it when the Taurus goes.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by Officemanager

Go visit USA and see what they are really driving over there, I think you will be really surprised and understand the Ford decision.

But why throw the baby out with the bathwater though. How can they leave a market that Henry Ford effectively built the company on in the first place . Cars that most if not all could afford . I get it that some serious rationale needs to take place but I thought there'd be enough smart people at Ford to do that without jumping ship altogether from what used to be Ford Motor Company heartland .

[Rico 110s]

I can understand to a degree if they are keeping the Lincoln range of sedans.

[whynot]

A business gamble? Sure. Will it pay off? Quite possibly. Ford sells almost as many F-series in the USA (896K) as the entire Australian market (1189K). Some consumers are even willing to drop USD$100,000 on a top spec F-series. Not sure of the profit margin of a $100K F-series compared to a Fusion, but it would have to be multiples.

I suppose the cynicism comes into play with the string of poor decisions that Ford's management have made over the last few decades. And that cynicism is fair enough.

Ford are not without options if consumer sediment rapidly swings back to the mid and large sedans. They can easily import vehicles from Europe operations; wack on a large chrome grill, replace the dash with fake teak, and swap out the springs for something a lot softer .... bingo, USA certified vehicle

Where Ford need to be on their guard is if the Europeans move quicker than them with battery technology in their SUV lineup. Electricity is a lot cheaper in the USA (granted so too is gasoline), which impacts on swap costs. My view is that size is less important than how rapidly drive train technology will evolve over the next decade. (I would drool over an F-series, say, with a 200kWh battery and almost limitless torque off the line.)

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

Is Ford Explorer continuing on ? It was based on a Taurus platform wasn’t it ? Or will Ford just sell Expeditions based on F trucks?

Going to CD6 - RWD this time next year with Lincoln Aviator
Mustang moves to CD6 in 2021.

(Imagine slightly bigger Territory or even Jeep Grand Cherokee)

[au350hp]

Originally Posted by Brazen

The move to SUVs is like the change from the Model T running boards style to the full body cars of the 1950s. There is no going back, sedans and low cars are dead. They only survive now due to low pricing and nostalgia.

Ford is smart to do this. Chase the high profit high growth segments. Some of these segments perhaps don’t even exist yet.

As humans, we have never been bigger, with most 1st world countries experiencing the highest rates of obesity in history. With the North American market being such a major one, you wonder how much of the popularity of SUV's has to do with this.

[jpd80]

It's more to do with people being more confident in higher seating position,
they can see better in the traffic and feel less intimidated by other tall vehicles.

Spend a little time in the US and you'll understand why so many are switching.

and with all the hybrids Ford has planned there, it won't think twice about dropping cars.

[jgmdat]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

If only they built real trucks again.

Saw one today with a dog trailer. Not many on the road these days.

[danzvtil]

Oh no, ford will stop making cars which they make no money on, and are declining in sales year on year, and focus (geddit?) on models that are growing in popularity and turn a profit. How effen dare they!

[jpd80]

Pretty sure that new Focus is still coming to Australia,
Fiesta is a goner and Mondeo not far behind.

Endura and new Escape are planned for Australia too.

[The Yeti]

Good old ford
Instead of building and selling cars people want, we'll tell them what they can have.

Hey, worked with the model T why can't it work with the market in 2018

[LeadFoot81]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

But why throw the baby out with the bathwater though. How can they leave a market that Henry Ford effectively built the company on in the first place . Cars that most if not all could afford . I get it that some serious rationale needs to take place but I thought there'd be enough smart people at Ford to do that without jumping ship altogether from what used to be Ford Motor Company heartland .

They aren't leaving the market that Henry Ford built the company on; that market is leaving them... They're going where the sales are.

For all the dodgy decisions that Fomoco have made over the years, it's nice to see them (try?) to get on the front foot.

[LeadFoot81]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

Good old ford
Instead of building and selling cars people want, we'll tell them what they can have.

Hey, worked with the model T why can't it work with the market in 2018

The people are telling all the car makers what they want.

[Brazen]

Sales figures don’t tell the whole story. Car markers can tell where there is genuine demand and where it is trending.

Conventional sedans and hatches are heavily price driven, there needs to be a lot of money on the bonnet to get them moving. So while sales look ok, the market share is effectively being bought. In the US if you take rebates off or increase lease rates on a sedan sales fall through the floor as there is no genuine demand.

They would even have data on internet queries of various cars and how this has been tracking.

Again many sedans live on fleet sales, which are price driven. But even fleets are turning away from sedans due to all the drawbacks of sedans.

Car makers would be seeing auction numbers on lease returns and seeing the resale going through the floor, again due to lack of demand.

They would also have trade in data, who is trading in what. I’ve heard interesting data that sedan buyers are the least loyal for their category. Sedan buyers are happy to move to SUVs, but SUV owners once they have had a taste for one they rarely go back to a sedan.

Ford are simply following (or leading the market).

[Sprintey]

It's a very similar move to what Mitsi have done in Australia, and that seems to be working for them. Pajero Sport and ASX both lead on price, features and then often volume of sales.

So, any US based posters here, are they going to idle factories, or convert them to SUVs and trucks?

[solarite_guy]

Good question. I would tend to think the political climate is against putting factory workers out of work. Yet, I would have no idea which factories can convert.

Yet, along this line of thought, we know Focus production has been shifted to China and Europe and those current factories to be converted, IIRC.

My natural inclination would tend to think the CD6 platform can be used to produce vehicles in the remaining "car" factories. But that is just as good a guess as yours.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by LG17

So does that mean US cops will be driving Mustangs?

maybe,

The interceptor is now based on the Taurus since they stopped making the Crown. so if they stop Taurus....

It only leaves the Explorer - and I think there's an F150 variant going by this
https://www.ford.com/police-vehicles/

or maybe a Lincoln interceptor if its future platform is shared the the Explorer

[Nikked]

I wonder if Ford are waiting in a reply from the Trump Administration...

Remember last year Ford wanted to build Foci (Focus'?) in Mexico, but faced stern words from ol' Don about American workers etc...

[solarite_guy]

Originally Posted by LG17

So does that mean US cops will be driving Mustangs?

If so, it wouldn't be the first time.

[solarite_guy]

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

It only leaves the Explorer

I live in an area densely populated by police. Even now there are a few Explorers in use by a some.

[CyberWasp]

One could argue that they are going back to their roots.
The Model T, with the high driving position is more SUV than Car in a funny kind of way.

[solarite_guy]

Originally Posted by CyberWasp

One could argue that they are going back to their roots.
The Model T, with the high driving position is more SUV than Car in a funny kind of way.

That is absolutely true.

I even recall when I was young, one uncle drove his Model T flat bed all the time as his daily driver. I will say this was very late 50s through the 60s. This was in a city right next to Washington, DC. A suburban area at the time. Very urban now.

It was an SUV when you think about it.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by solarite_guy

Good question. I would tend to think the political climate is against putting factory workers out of work. Yet, I would have no idea which factories can convert.

Yet, along this line of thought, we know Focus production has been shifted to China and Europe and those current factories to be converted, IIRC.

My natural inclination would tend to think the CD6 platform can be used to produce vehicles in the remaining "car" factories. But that is just as good a guess as yours.

No one in Ford US is losing jobs
Michigan AP - Focus/ C- Max gives way to Ranger/Bronco
Hermosillo AP - Fusion/ MKZ will give way to SWB C2 SUVs
Caucautian AP - Fiesta will give way to Electric Vehicles incl. Mach 1
Flat Rock AP - Mustang & Continental & MKZ replacement to CD6
Chicargo AP - D3 Explorer/ Taurus will give way to CD6 Explorer/Aviator

[Pepscobra]

I'm surprised they're axing C-Max though; I thought mini-vans were still popular in the US?

[solarite_guy]

They are not the big sellers they once were. This is 2016 in the US. It seems the trend is not dissimilar to some other regions.

[EgoFG]

IIRC Ford were looking to a new RWD platform for Lincoln.

Merc/BMW/Audi all make good money on sedans.

Perhaps the unspoken is that Sedans will be upmarket ?

[Sprintey]

Originally Posted by jpd80

No one in Ford US is losing jobs
Chicargo AP - D3 Explorer/ Taurus will give way to CD6 Explorer/Aviator

That thing is hot! Bring it here!!

https://www.caradvice.com.au/635319/...over-revealed/