Recent Comments:
Company nicknames: Ford's reputation for quality found on road dead {BloggingStocks}
Aug 12th 2008 1:31PM It may be true that Toyota has the most plants of any non-domestic manufacturer, but its numbers still don't compare to, say, Ford's nine assembly, three transmission, three engine and three stamping facilities. Even with Ford expanding in Mexico and Canada, they only have two more plants left to close (previously disclosed, although one is in doubt and may stay open) in the U.S. Beyond that, even with Ford's new "One Ford" strategy, Ford employs more engineering, finance and management resources in the U.S. than any non-domestic manufacturer by a wide margin. And Ford isn't nearly the size of GM, which is a full step up in size.
As for the RDA survey - it is a marketing survey conducted by RDA for the various manufacturers to track their quality. They all pay for it. It wasn't "sponsored" by Ford any more than GM or Toyota, but it was data that Ford bought for their research purposes. If this were the only data point, I might forgive the skepticism, but recent data from JD Power, PIN, Strategic Vision and the vaunted Consumer Reports suggests that Ford's quality is, in fact, where they claim it is.
Your use of the recent cruise control switch recall is also disingenuous. This applies to a set of vehicles that went out of production over 4 years ago and whose components' designs were finalized before 2000. It's like using Toyota's engine sludge issue (an issue that, I must point out, Toyota only admitted after being dragged to court in three different countries and fined heavily for covering up) as a way to cast Toyota's current fleet as unreliable.
If you are going to post a blog article, I would suggest that you find facts - your spurious conclusion seems more driven by emotional bias than actual research. A fair article might have stated that Ford's initial quality is, in actuality, up to industry standards; it's long-term quality is still to be seen, although there are signs that it is improving drastically as well. And this, along with missteps by Toyota (you can find numerous recent examples in Consumer Reports) make Ford a more compelling case than in the not-too-distant past.
But I suppose it is easier to be driven by emotion and rely on other blogs (TTAC) that also have suspect claims and rather strong anti-Detroit rhetoric that is often not backed up by fact.
Ford F-100 put on hold {Autoblog}
Aug 7th 2008 4:02PM It will likely be necessary soon as they don't have plans to continue 2.3 production past Q1 next year, I believe. They also will need some updates to the Ranger to introduce some safety related items. The only way they may get around this is by limiting the Ranger to fleet-only - but even then, they may still have to meet those standards.
Ford F-100 put on hold {Autoblog}
Aug 7th 2008 3:56PM Ethanol can run at a drastically higher fuel/air ratio than regular gas. Current E85 engines do not operate much differently depending on the gas in the tank. The spark timing and fuel/air mix might change slightly, but by varying fuel injection - not air flow. Overall, these engines do not take advantage of ethanol's abilities.
However, Ford's ecoboost can use some of this resistance to ignition to its advantage through varying air/fuel mixture through the boost and using some valve timing tricks with ethanol. Normally, under load, the boost adds air so that more fuel can be added without worrying about pre-mature ignition (hehe, sorry). With ethanol, you can boost the mixture without adding a lot more fuel. So, you're in boost mode, a similar volume of ethanol is injected, but burn is more complete, hotter and therefore more efficient. (I'm not an engine expert, but that's what I've pieced together).
There is a pretty good paper out there somewhere on ethanol injecting that said an engine with displacement of about 3.0L could be replaced by an engine of about 1.5L displacement and get 30-40% better mileage. I believe it was an MIT study done in cooperation with this MA-based company and Ford. And this was before wrote the controls for the new ecoboost line, which will help drive additional efficiency.
Chrysler financial problems will spread to GM and Ford {BloggingStocks}
Aug 5th 2008 1:32PM Your assessment is incorrect. Chrysler's credit line was needed to supplement cash levels at unsustainable levels. GM *may* have to take another line of credit, but they already have one open for their use through 2011, I believe. Ford is in the best shape, burning only $3.5 billion in the first half (besides the one-time VEBA contribution). At that rate, they sufficient liquidity through 2010 before they would have to tap their own line of credit worth $11 billion also set through 2011, I believe. GM may face Chrysler's issues in 2009, but Ford is unlikely to face financing issues at all unless there is even more deterioration in the market (ie - less than Ford's 14-14.5 million industry sales, which is one of the lowest forecasts by any manufacturer right now).
2010 Ford Mustang to debut at LA Auto Show {Autoblog}
Jul 23rd 2008 7:13PM Actually, Job1 is scheduled for February. That's not late next year. Some of the new engines might not be ready until late next year.
Ford moves production to small cars, a bit too late {BloggingStocks}
Jul 22nd 2008 2:56PM Actually, they shouldn't have to borrow any more money or sell additional stock. Ford was sitting on about $29 billion last quarter and an $11 billion credit facility. They were expecting to spend $14-16 billion in cash between now and the end of next year - the increase in investment will result in maybe $17-19 billion in burn. But Ford needs only about $8 billion to continue operating, giving them $2-4 billion of cushion room before even touching the credit line.
It's true that Ford is late to the party, but the shift has been monumental and extremely sudden - even Toyota has taken a blow. ToMoCo's $1.2 billion investment in San Antonio to produce up to 300,000 trucks yearly will churn out no more than half that this year as Tundra sales plummet also. They will have make updates to at least two additional plants as well.
Ford's future engine lineup to focus on fuel economy {Autoblog Green}
Jul 14th 2008 10:09PM Well... lots of guesses or connected dots here that are likely wrong. The 4.6 is going away, but it is being replaced by the 5.0. The 3.5 is a more direct replacement for the 5.4. Ford isn't dropping all V8s - just giving alternatives.
In the Fiesta, the base engine will likely be the 1.6L. The 1.0L Ecoboost will likely be in the Focus in Europe, but it won't be in the Focus stateside unless something has changed. It could appear in the Fiesta here. The Focus will get a DI engine. Maybe of the 1.6, but the displacement is not known yet. There is a 1.6L turbo in the works for mid-size vehicles. The displacement that is supposed to slide in between the 1.0 and 1.6 (if one is in fact in the works) has not been mentioned anywhere as far as I know.
What is correct is that the 2.0 ecoboost will replace the 3.5 or be an alternate in many applications - the next-gen Taurus, Edge, Flex and some Lincoln vehicles. It will be phased in starting as early as 2010 (MY2011). The smaller ecoboost engines should arrive around 2012. Ford should have an ecoboost option for every vehicle by 2013 or 2014. At least, this is what I've gleaned from various places.
Ford confirms U.S. production of Euro Focus in 2010, delays new F-150 launch {Autoblog}
Jun 20th 2008 1:44PM And they've had 1 recall since. The new Fusion, Focus, Taurus, Edge, MKX - none of these have had a recall yet.
I'm sorry you have to live in the year 2000 to criticize Ford and justify overpaying for your Civic, but I guess not all of us can recognize when we've messed up.
Detroit 3 show restraint in tough times, continue to limit fleet sales {Autoblog}
Jun 16th 2008 4:30PM Close, but not quite right on several accounts.
1) Government fleets are down, but Ford's sales to corporate and government fleets, as an indicator, are stable YOY. Rental is down about 30% this year. I'm not sure of GM/Chrysler/Toyota/Honda/Nissan break downs.
2) Rental car companies are down, but if Toyota is increasing its total sales, it is "stealing" it from somewhere else. That means, as a share of the rental market, the Detroit 3 are realigning with their overall sales.
3) The thing people always forget is that GM and Ford OWN the work-truck market. Ford OWNS the chassis cab market (small buses, ambulences, etc). Those are all fleet sales, but they are profitable and don't hurt residuals.
For rentals, Ford is targeted at about 10% rental fleet this year. Toyota is sitting at about 8% rental this year after their fleet sales grew 35% last year. Nissan is at similar levels. Only Honda can play the "low rental" game, but less effectively than they used to. Most of their growth this year has been increased fleet sales. And again, not all of these sales are bad, but I've never seen as many Honda's sitting at the Avis lot. I've never seen as many rental Altima's tooling around either.
Fleets are down because demand is down, but Toyota/Honda/Nissan are taking larger shares of the declining market. Check.
Then, let's always be clear that when we talk fleet, there are two bodies: commercial/gov, which are mostly profitable and good sales, and rental, which are rarely profitable but in small quantities can be positive sales (new vehicle intros, durability testing, etc). With the F-series and E-series, Ford is about 70% commerical/gov and 30% rental. Toyota, for example, was about 15% comm/gov and 85% rental last year.
I can't speak for Chrysler or GM, but Ford's rental percentage is stablizing very well. Their commercial sales will always give them higher fleet numbers than, say, Toyota. But that doesn't mean they are failing in their mission. They are actually doing exactly what some of their vehicles (Super Duty, F-150, E-series) are designed to do.
SVT fans rejoice! A new Ford super-truck is coming this fall {Autoblog}
Jun 15th 2008 1:32PM Why did Honda launch their new Pilot? Why did Toyota launch its new Sequoia? Clearly both vehicles are out of place in today's market.
Just like Ford, these vehicles were in the pipeline. Ford also has the Fiesta in the pipeline for the U.S. as well as the "Euro" Focus due in about 2 years. Ford's pipeline is responding to the demand in the market, however, they had other things already in development before gas jumped to $4.
And even at $4 or $5 or $6, some people will still buy this truck
