How Long Will Ford Last?

How Long Will Ford Last?

I've got a sinking suspicion, with Ford trying to sell off Aston Martin...to upkeep American distribution, that they are headed for the drain.

What do you guys think?

I think 3-5 years

I don't think that they are going anywhere soon...

They are closing 14 manufacturing plants (including 7 vehicle assembly plants) by 2012 and they are cutting assembly capacity by 1.2 million vehicles.
- As much as it sucks for the thousands of people who will be losing their jobs (estimated to be 25,000 to 30,000 people), this way Ford will not be paying people to basically sit idly at a plant that manufactures vehicles that aren't selling up to expectation or up to plant capacity. So each vehicle will actually end up costing less to make, and there will be less vehicles staying on dealer lots needing deep incentives to sell. This is good because their plants, on average, are only running at 75% efficiency (take for example, some foreign auto plants are running at over 100% efficiency, heh).

They are also in the midst of making 75% of their plants flexible by 2008.
- This means that a plant will have no reason to be idle or cut shifts, because they could manufacture a different model that is selling better. Much more efficient.

Ford is actually profitable everywhere except North America.

They are supposedly investing alot more money into small cars and crossovers for not too distant future (think 2010~2012). They will also be using more global platforms for their small cars and crossovers (think C1 platform that is used on the Volvo S40, Mazda3 and European Focus).

They will start sharing alot more "invisible" products between vehicles all over the worlds, such as braking systems, underbody components, etc. to help gain more buying power from its suppliers (lower prices) and also to cut down on the amount of engineering needed for each vehicle (should equate to better quality in the long run).

Their F-150 is quite competitve, they have a new Heavy Duty truck (with a new Diesel engine) coming out soon also.

The Ford Fusion is actually a very good mid-size car, and as soon as they put their new 3.5 V6 into it, it will be extremely competitive (doesn't hurt that its based on a pretty decent platform from the Mazda 6).

Obviously they still have some serious gaps in their product lineups to be competitive, but I could seem them being alot more competitive by 2010~2012. Time will tell I suppose.

Right now I see the major competitors in the market blowing Ford out of the water almost everytime.

Take the Full-size GASOLINE powered v-8 truck line.
The competitors on the market are the Sierra / Silverado, the Ram, the F-150, the Titan and Tundra.

Titan right now is one of the worst rated vehicles on the road according to consumer reports. With the advent of the '07 Tundra...if the power and cost is where Toyota says it's going to be. ...it will out tow, out pull and flat out perform every other gasoline 8-cylinder pick-up on the road.

I see more Focus' broke down on the side of the road due to mechanical failure than even the all-mighty J-Body.

Maybe I'm being pessimistic, but look too at the deal Ford has going now. 0% for 72 months on ALL cars? Even the Mustang GT? That's an act of desperation in my book.

ford will go no where at anytime. they will be around long after we die.

I agree. There are a lot of people who have an interest in seeing Ford stay around, so I would say there's little to no chance of them shutting the doors.

Ford won't go away. They'll probably file for chapter 11 a couple of times before they go extinct.

They'll stay as long as americans continue to buy cheap crappy cars.

Ford is the last truely american owned car company. I seriouslt doubt the US would let them fall... and if you are rooting for them to go anywhere anytime soon you should have to forfeit being an american citizen and go live somewhere else.

Guess I'm moving then. I hate Ford.

I didnt say that if you dislike them... but if you want them to go under then you are about as anti-american as it gets.

Most Toyotas now are made in the US... hell, mine was made in Michigan.

Ford sells good and popular cars in Europe and Australia. The European Focus has a turbo model and in Australia the Falcon has a turbo 6 cylinder.

^ turbo deisel, totally different... but yeah. The focus is pretty huge in Europe but thats about it other than the old escorts and cozzies.

It's not that I'm anti-american car companies...and I never made the comment, "I hope Ford goes down." Would I be indifferent one way or the other if they did? Yes.

Im not anti american car companies. I like some of the GM cars. I hate Ford. Their quality just flat out sucks. We had a Ford once, well a Mercury, and it broke down every other day. We spent more money in towing the car than what we paid for it. Also it does not matter where teh car is built. It can be built in my backyard and it still would not matter. It all depends on the engineering and the quality control. I could honestly care less if Ford goes under. They will never get a penny out of me anyways. All my pennys go to Toyota for life

how is wanting ford to go down being anti-american?

My dad had a 89 Mercury Tracer back in the days. He is a cheap ol bastard. Everyone told him not to get a Ford but he didn't listen cuz it was cheap. He only drove it like 20 miles a day if that. That car had numerous problems. Well, that car lasted till 53,000 miles or 6 years later. The engine was ticking like a time bomb it was so bad you could hear the car coming from 3 blocks away. The repair shop told him that the lifters had gone bad and that they advise him to purchase another car because it would cost too much to fix. Well, my dad being hard headed and stubborn brought him a 96 Escort. Lets see how long this POS will last. It already is about to die. The car will not go over 70mph without the engine bogging out with heavy vibrations, the rear seat belts don't work, takes honestly at least 30 sec to get to 60 mph from a stop, and the interior has cracks on the dashboard from sun. The build quality on Fords are poor.

Same thing with the 02 Cavalier I rented a couple of weeks ago. Compared with the 02 Civic and Corolla that I have driven many times, this car was 2 generations behind.

Ford: Fucked On Race Day
Ford: Fast Only Rolling Downhill
Ford: Flipped Over Reservation Decoration
Ford: First On Recall Day
Ford: Fix Or Repair Daily
Ford: Flip Over Read Directions
Ford: For Old Retired Dudes
Ford: Found on road dead
Ford: Found On Roadside Dump
Ford: Fraternal Order of Restored DeSoto's
Ford: Fucker Only Runs Downhill
Ford: Fuckin Old Rusty Dodge
Ford: Freaking Owner's Realy Dumb
Ford: Flipped Over Roadside Disaster
Ford: Found On Redneck's Driveway
Ford: Fickle Old Rusty Deathtrap
Ford: Fill Oil & Reserviors Daily
Ford: Fails on Rainy Days
Ford: Frequest Overhall, Rapid Deterioration
Ford: Fuck! Our Ride Died
Ford: Finally Obsolete Racing Device
Ford: Free Or Reduced Drastically

Just to name a few I drove a Ford Ranger and a Ford Courier in my younger days and both vehicals were a bucket of shit.

hahaha I had to add this one for us

Toyota: Towed Often, Yearly Over-running Triple A

This is true in my case My car has been towed like 3 times this year because the motor blew and I had complications with the new one at first. Hehehe.

it seems to me that most opinions of car companies are based off stereotypical opinions and the opinions of one's parents. almost my entire paternal family tree is in the auto repair business and they all swear by fords. to be honest, i don't see anything very spectacular in the current ford lineup, though i am partial to their turbo-diesel trucks.

take it for what you will...i know a lot of people who are happy with their current brand of vehicle tend to take what others say about them as blasphemy. i own two toyotas, a honda, and the wife has a ford. i don't really complain about any of them except when i'm in a crappy mood.

another thing...a car will only run as well as you treat it. more than a few people get the regular oil change and think that's all there is to maintaining a car. it amazes me how someone can expect a car to run forever with minimal work required.

If the last "all american" car company goes down our economy will be pretty bad... you say that you want this to happen and you wonder why its anti-american? If that doesnt make sense to you then there is nothing else I can say that will make sense, so im done with it.


I come from a ford family yes... my grandfather and father are both FORD ONLY people and I see first hand why... he had a work truck that got beat up almost daily and that thing has 310,000+ miles on it. He definately knows his way around a car so maintenance was kept up on it. He now has a new turbo diesel F350 and that thing runs like a champ. Be biased all you want, dont buy a ford... I can honestly care less, but dont HOPE an american company as big as that goes belly up... thats just anti-american period.

I don't think anybody wants Ford goes belly-up, but people can definitely understand how it could happen with their quality and lineup in the past, ohhh, 10 years... and the lineup (speaking just vehicle wise) would not be missed if they completely dissapeared, except for their truck lineup (but even then, the competitors all have trucks that can easily take the Ford trucks places)... we know that the impact to the economy would be huge, yes... but all the existing manufacturers would just up capacity, build a few more plants, and probably employ at least 50~60% of the workforce (if not more) in one way or another... bad for the economy yes, catastrophic, no....

Doesn't ford like own hummer and jaguier and a few other companies now? And we still have Dodge so if ford goes down we can lean on them They atleast have the Viper, SRT4 and that retarded fast truck.

FORD: Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Land Rover, Volvo, Mazda

GM: Chevrolet, Pontiac, GMC, Cadillac, Buick, Saab, Hummer, Saturn, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall

The truck is the Dodge Ram SRT-10