Ford cancels planned third shift for crossovers at Oakville plant
Click above high-res gallery of the 2009 Ford Flex
Ford has been banking on strong sales of its crossover vehicles to help counter the sinking ship that is its line of SUVs. While the new Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX, along with the brand new Ford Flex and revised Escape, have sold well enough to post a meager 2.8-percent gain in overall sales so far this year, that number apparently isn't high enough to warrant a third shift at Ford's Oakville, Ontario plant that the automaker was hoping would be necessary. Unfortunately, this shift cancelation means that 350 workers who had planned on showing up for their first day next Monday are now left jobless.
While there are certainly buyers out there who require the capability to haul around their entire families and their associated gear, all large passenger vehicles -- crossovers like the new Flex included -- face an uphill battle now to overcome current market conditions, as this latest announcement once again proves.
Gallery: Review: 2009 Ford Flex
[Source: Courier-Journal]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gregg 10:00AM (7/23/2008)
The Flex is an intriguing design, and will do better than it would have if it had been styled in a less polarizing way. But it is big and heavy. With some foresight, it could have offered essentially the same room and utility, without so much exterior bulk and overall weight. Hopefully Ford is keeping this in mind for the 2012 update.
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Dave 9:16AM (7/24/2008)
I can see why they are cancelling the third shift after looking at this thing.
Disgruntled Goat 10:25AM (7/23/2008)
I feel bad for the workers but when you try to sell a trainwreck like the Flex you're not going to be able to count on it to carry sales. The Edge and Escape are great vehicles with a lot of appeal. The Flex? Not so much.
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Dave 10:35AM (7/23/2008)
I like the design...I LOVED the concept...and then the Flex came out and it was way bigger and all of a sudden crossed off the list again.
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Rocketboy 11:20AM (7/23/2008)
Pre-fail?
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Alex 12:13PM (7/23/2008)
I like the flex but consumers are having a knee jerk reaction to high gas prices and jumping to the extreme left of econo cars. I think for many people these cross-overs that are supposed to be the new SUV are still too big and wasteful with the uknown of gas prices over the next couple of years. In time people will adjust to the price and move a little more towards these vehicles.
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Jared 12:53PM (7/23/2008)
Three years ago when Ford started working on the Flex, it made a lot of sense. More car-like than an SUV, as much room as a minivan, but with more style. Unfortunately for Ford, the market changed dramatically this year. What once made sense no longer does. As Dan Neil said: "In the space of six months, the Flex has gone from mass-market vehicle to niche product."
Most families in the US have 2 or fewer children. So they don't need 3-row vehicles on a daily basis. They bought them because gas was cheap and it was convenient to have the 3rd row for the rare situations when they needed it (in-laws in town, car-pooling with the kids' friends, etc.).
Now, with gas at $4/gallon, there is a big cost to having a larger vehicle than you need on a daily basis. So those families are no longer buying a large 3-row vehicle. Minivan sales are down along with large and mid-size SUV sales. Those folks are now buying a 2-row vehicle.
The Flex is, unfortunately, too big and too thirsty to be a mainstream vehicle.
amac 11:33AM (7/23/2008)
What's with Ford's seeming inability to STOP MAKING SUVs? Go ahead and call it a crossover all you want, but most people still see these kinds of vehicles as SUVs no matter what you tell them. The stigma is not so easy to shake, just like the Pinto soured American's taste for hatchbacks for decades to come. Ford better start delivering the cars people are asking for... and fast.
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CDN Crockett 11:38AM (7/23/2008)
Good, anything coming out of the GTA blows!!!
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J.S. 11:50AM (7/23/2008)
??? Do you feel better know after getting that off your chest? You're probably from western Canada.
johneboy 12:26AM (7/25/2008)
The most awarded car in history came out of the GTA, does it blow too? You don't even know what it is do you? You better get back to your village, there is an alert all over the media for a missing idiot!
ItGuy 1:21PM (7/23/2008)
Funny, it gets 24 MPG roughly the same as my G35 sedan. Yet there is a "stigma" attached to it. Funny things.
Not to mention the knee-jerk reaction to get out of SUVs. So you trade a paid off or barely paid off vehicle (or even worse upside down) for 4-6 more year of payments? Please. The amount of sunk money is insane and would pay for lots of $5 gas.
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BOB 3:10PM (7/23/2008)
HAL __ E __ LUL __ YAH!!! -- just what I think.
After a little while, people go back to buying what they really want, when they can afford it.
When I read the SILLY COMMENTS about how big this thing is, and UNTRUE comments about the thirst, I think of my 2 friends who each have the audacity to be raising 3 adolescent boys --
You guys who want to tell people what to do should try riding with 3 teenagers in a Prius for a few hours. I guess the folks with too many kids should shoot some, or put Grandma in a home.
But, I sure agree that a lone, spoiled bxxxx in a Range Rover, barrelling through the LA canyons alone, is a dinosaur. The fashion-conscious ones wont be seen in a huge rig anymore.
Daniel 4:28PM (7/23/2008)
So why don't these idiots offer a diesel hybrid version that get better that 50 mpg? If they offered such an option they would sell all they couild build.
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Maria 5:33PM (7/23/2008)
The Flex looks like an ugly, drunken bloated Mini. The current "stylists" at Ford should be shot as they've produced some of the most hideous vehicles of all time. The focus, fusion, flex, the taurus or whatever they call it this week, the MKZ, and the list goes on. The workers get punished for having a design staff recruited from the School for the Blind. Hasn't anyone at Ford ever seen a Benz? or even a Hyundai? I wouldn't be seen standing near a flex, much less buy one.
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RICHARD DURHAM 12:00AM (7/24/2008)
I have never wanted a ford product because GM has always been good to me. I wish people would wake up and think before knocking AMERICAN car companys. GM, FORD and CHRYSLER helped make this country and we need them more than ever RIGHT NOW!!! Please think about the familys and our friends and how they would suffer. I DO!!!!!!
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johneboy 12:41AM (7/25/2008)
I work for Chrysler. I always have a new Chrysler in my driveway every 3 to 4 years. That is the car my wife and kids use. My other two cars were purchased used and are a GM and Ford product. I support all three American companies and always will, regardless of who I work for. Richard Durham has made a very valid point. I can't stress enough how important it is now to support OUR car companies and the people they employ!
Unknown 12:20AM (7/24/2008)
I would like to give you some information that was not reported in the paper and is terrible for a company to do. My husband (name withheld) was one of the 500 hired by Ford. He has been going through intereviews and testing for the last 3 months. Twice he has taken time off of work to go to these tests etc because he was told this was a sure thing. Ford used thousands and I'm sure thousands of dollars to pay to rent out hotel banquet rooms to conduct testing and interviews many times, to send 500 people for physicals and lastly to pay to hire a company to check references on 500 people. Finally last Thursday July 17th, my husband got a call offering him the position and to report for orientation on the 28th. My husband told them that he had to give 2 weeks notice as he has been with the company a long time and he was told no they needed him to start on the 28th. My husband sadly only gave his company 1 week notice and that was it. Until yesterday, Tuesday July 22, when his friend who works at Ford called to tell him that there were rumors they were cancelling the line. My husband promptly called Ford to be told that yes due to poor sales the line was being cancelled.
We cannot believe how irresponsibly this company has acted! I could understand if they offered the jobs 6 months ago and the economy has gone down but it was 5 days ago. You can't tell me they just made this decision. So in 5 days they have put 350 people out of work and burdened out economy with the possibility of 350 people collecting employment insurance for NO REASON, they should never have told people 5 days ago to quit their jobs. In fact another of our friends who works there and was going to move shifts told us yesterday that they were already calling employees who were switching to the midnight shift (third line) not to report to that line this week to return to their regular shift, this was last week so why then was my husband and others told to leave their jobs to come work at Ford when this decision was obviously already in the works. My husband has a mortgage and 3 children to support and thank god he is one of the lucky ones who went back and grovelled through humiliation to his company to let him stay and they agreed but what about all those other poor people who may not have the same luck? This is just morally irresponsible and when my husband told the man in human resources I just quit my job, I have a mortgage and kids, what am I supposed to do, the guy just shrugged it off and said sorry man nothing I can do about it.
I just felt there was a lot more to this story than was reported and that it needed to be told, maybe we could get some kind of answer from Lauren More regarding how she thinks this is acceptable treatment?
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johneboy 12:53AM (7/25/2008)
The Flex is a squared-off mini-van with a six cylinder engine and similar gas mileage. If you like it you like it. If you hate it you hate it. The truth is if Toyota or Honda came out with something similar (ie. Highlander) there would be no controversy. It would be sheer genius according to the automotive journalists. So quit sticking it to the American big 3 when they produce a similar product. It will be a well built vehicle, that is what Oakville Assembly builds. And no I don't work for Ford, I actually work up the 410 at Chrysler.
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