Desperate times: Ford will retool truck plants to build cars
Ford's recent announcement to reduce its white collar workforce costs by 15% shows that Mulally & Co. are dead-serious about turning around the Dearborn, MI automaker. The newest twist in the FoMoCo saga takes the situation from serious to near desperate, as plant managers and union leadership are convening in Dearborn to discuss switching factories from truck to car production. Such a move is much easier to make in one of Toyota or Honda's flexible manufacturing plants, but Ford has plenty of facilities that are hardwired to build only one or two products. Analysts say that costs could be $250 million a year or more, which would make for a huge dent in Ford's already shrinking bank account.
The good news is that Ford is looking at its European products as the vehicles it needs to build State-side. We enthusiasts have been drooling over the Euro Focus, Fiesta, Mondeo, S-Max and Kuga for quite a while, but their fuel-efficient ways will have the masses finally thinking Ford first if they come here.
Ford won't announce its plans until July, and some details will be held back for months more, but The Detroit News has it on good authority that the Michigan Truck and Louisville plants will be part of the shift away from gas guzzlers. Louisville, which currently produces the Explorer, would shift to a unibody facility that produces cars and CUVs. Michigan Truck, which produces the Navigator and Expedition, will make room for the F-100, which will be smaller and likely more efficient than the F-150 on which it's based.
It's amazing what $4 per gallon gasoline can do to U.S. manufacturing, no? Ford just may be on the verge of the largest shift in the company's 105-year history, and we're all here to witness it. Here's hoping the plan works.
[Source: The Detroit News, Photo by JEFF HAYNES/AFP/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jay Evans 1:01PM (6/11/2008)
The good news is that Ford is looking at its European products as the vehicles it needs to build State-side.
Somebody say hello to the "New " Mercury.
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Randy 5:04AM (6/15/2008)
hello
mike 1:02PM (6/11/2008)
The real problem in here is that Frauds cars are much, much worse than theit trucks.
Focus is a JOKE compared to Civic and Corolla
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Trevor 1:07PM (6/11/2008)
Um. Have you seen the Euro Focus?
Blows away both of those little ricers.
Ken Stamper 1:13PM (6/11/2008)
Dynamically speaking, perhaps (although there is plenty of recent evidence that reliability-and-quality-wise Ford is right up there). However, the European Focus, which will be sold here in its next generation is widely acclaimed to be the best car in its class- better than the Civic, Corolla, and even the Mazda 3 that shares the same chassis. European Fords are amongst the very best cars in their classes. Hopefully, consumers give the new Fords a chance.
Trevor 1:21PM (6/11/2008)
Yeah and In Europe Toyota can barely sells cars.
Omer 1:30PM (6/11/2008)
Trevor, have you seen Euro Civic in person or driven one? I have driven both focus Euro Civic and Focus and both are excellent and are better in all categorizes than what we get in America. So don't assume that if that Ford offers its Euro models here that the Honda and Toyota will just ignore it.
compy386 2:16PM (6/11/2008)
The Corolla is an awful car PERIOD. It's poorly thought out and poorly executed. I was backing out of a parking lot yesterday in one and the lights don't turn on until you go into drive. Couldn't see a thing. The car has some nice soft touches, but the arm rest on the door of all places is hard plastic. It drives and handles extremely poorly. It sells on Toyota quality alone.
kory kickul 4:58PM (6/11/2008)
agree totally......
Christian 9:50AM (6/12/2008)
lol @ Corolla. They don't even have independant rear suspension on Toyota Corollas. Take a look sometime, they have a 19th century torsion bar.
Trevor 1:07PM (6/11/2008)
Bring In the Euro Fords :D
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Dude 1:09PM (6/11/2008)
I don't see how this shift is any different than the one they did in the 90's to producing more trucks and SUVs. They used to have a very large lineup of cars until the mid-nineties.
I wonder if they will try an count F-100 sales as F-series sales, just so they can keep their "#1 selling pickup" tag line.
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Johnny 1:25PM (6/11/2008)
That is exactly why they are calling it the F-100 and not the Ranger. Put as many different products under one umbrella to inflate sales. F-150 and F-450 have nothing in common yet counted together.
Robert 1:25PM (6/11/2008)
And we have a winner. That is EXACTLY why they are developing it and naming it F-100. Marketing is a really incredible tool that Ford intends to use to its fullest.
Steve 1:30PM (6/11/2008)
"#1 selling pickup" tag line.
That is a farce but I hate it more when they call it the #1 selling vehicle. That cant be farther from the truth.
With 40% of Fseries sales being the superduty, the F-150 has sold only in the 340,000 to 420,000 range. The Toyota Camry overtook the best selling vehicle crown in 2002.
Heck the Ford Focus beat the F-150 sales last month!
Mike 4:18PM (6/11/2008)
Look,
GM and Dodge are able to market 1500-3500 series trucks as one line because they are all the same body and name. Ford did this with the F-Series too until 1999 when the Super Duty F250-350 came out.
Why are people complaining that Ford should have to divide up sales between F150 and F250-450 because they are the only ones to go through the expense of engineering a completely new vehicle to suit the market when their competition simply changes parts (some big parts such as frames and suspensions) to get the upgraded capacities of their trucks that are in direct competition?
Additionally, if the F100 was an all new truck on a new platform, I could see it being called Ranger. Since it is based on the F150 architecture, it's really not a new Ranger. Now if GM, Dodge, Toyota, Nissan, and Honda all want to make a slightly smaller version of the Silverado, Ram, Tundra, Titan, and Ridgeline based on the existing trucks. they too can add that to their lineup of trucks and tally them together in sales reporting.
montoym 6:54PM (6/11/2008)
@ Mike:
Here's my side of it then. Since Fords F-150's and Super Duty's are close enough to be counted together. Then why aren't the Silverado and Sierra counted together?
They are even more closely related than the F-150 and Super Duty. You even admitted that they engineered a completely new vehicle with the Super Duty. Well, the Silverado and Sierra are virtually identical save for a few body and interior differences.
If they were counted together, Ford would have never had the title as the Best-Selling Truck or Best-Selling vehicle. As it is, the Silverado isn't that far behind F-Series sales and the Sierra sells about another 50%.
hitek3 11:32AM (6/12/2008)
The Sierra and Silverado are different BRANDS that's why they can't be counted together. If they were reported toghether that way, we'd have the Matrix and the Vibe counted as the same vehicle. The Ford F-Series is Ford's full size pickup just as Silverado is Chevy's.
montoym 10:06PM (6/11/2008)
Trust me, I know they are different brands. However, admittedly, the F-150 and Super Duty are different trucks as well. Yet, they are counted together. They may as well add the Ranger sales in too, why stop there?
By that logic, Chevy should just rename the Tahoe, Suburban, and Trailblazer to Silverado SUV, Silverado SUV EXT, and Silverado Trail and add all their sales together too since they'd have the same name. They'd have the highest selling vehicle for the foreseeable future. It makes at least as much sense as lumping together the F-150 and Super Duty sales.
I understand that it's tradition since before 1997(I think), the Super Duty's weren't as different from the F-150's as they are now. But, that's a poor excuse IMO.
anti-believer 1:12PM (6/11/2008)
Mercury is DEAD !!! Let it go. Geez.
If you want a euro Focus buy a Mazda3.
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