They’re also putting up Aston Martin for sale (wonder if the mysterious folks who bought Mini from BMW will buy it?).
There’s also a slight buzz ('twas in the Detroit News) that Ford is considering selling Jaguar, Volvo, and Land Rover.
I’ve seen a couple of the brand-spanking new Jaguars around the city. They look kinda sharp.
Ford badly needs this if they want to even survive. Light trucks and SUVs will only take you so far, especially when the marketplace changes and you only change when forced to. They’re getting the fruits of their gluttony these days, that’s for sure.
Well Volvo makes Ford some money at the current time. Quagmire on the other hand, well let’s just say to lose the kind of money they do, you either have to be a trained professional or an California legislator.
A couple of years ago Volvo made 800 million for the year in profit. Quagmire lost 1.6 Billion for the same period.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Jags, but the smartest thing Bill could do is put a bullet in Jag’s head.
Jaguar and Land Rover haven’t been profitable for quite a few years. Killing them could only help Ford’s bottom line. Maybe they could find a buyer for Land Rover, but Jaguar has a very spotty reputation (pun intended) and they’ll probably have to just shut them down.
I highly doubt that the Ford family would sell their stake. Their entire identity is wrapped up in that company. Overall, Ford is in the same position that General Motors was in about six months ago. They desperately need to reign in their healthcare and payroll costs. GM did this by strongarming the unions into agreeing to healthcare concessions, and by offering buyouts to clear out the deadwood. Ford will probably do the same thing soon, with Daimler-Chrysler following either later this year or early in 2007. Oh yeah, and Ford really needs to get some better designers, because their cars are pretty dull.
Lastly, I’ve got to admire Bill Ford for being willing to admit to his own shortcomings. He basically fired himself.
You know, it could be a ruse. Tell the world the founder’s family is pulling out, then buy a lot more stock when the price tanks. It wouldn’t be the first time this has happened in a US auto company. :dubious:
They have already done this. Twice.
They need to make better looking cars. They are the last to innovate. They should have gone smaller and electric. They ,instead ,pushed the pickup trucks and navigator types. They still want to clear a ton per vehicle. That time is past and they do not get it.
Yes, screw the wage-slaves first.
How 'bout just make good cars? I guess their trucks have a decent reputation (do any trucks actually have a bad reputation? That kind of evens the playing field) but they have a whole slew of cars that are just ugly and undesirable. I don’t think the Focus has been for them what they thought it’d be. It’s too small for a family car, too ugly for a teenager, too cheap for a bachelor, it just doesn’t fit anywhere.
If US car companies really want to keep their heads above water they need to abandon the planned-obsolescence model and start making quality cars that don’t look like Tucker Carlson should be driving.