Ford ahead of Toyota?

I, for one, am glad that Ford is doing well. They seem to have received the message and are getting their act together. Americans are responding to them because Ford has shown that they don't expect a bailout with little to offer in return.

As the article states, month over month is a volatile figure. I assume Toyota will make a comeback as the economy improves. Right now, Americans are hoping to save their own, especially Ford, which is making an effort to improve quality and fuel economy. Perhaps late, but better than the other two big American companies have done.

 

I'm very happy to see Ford doing well (or at least better). I'm also hoping Toyota has some plans beyond the Prius, though. Ford seems to have a pretty decent line-up of cars and trucks, and I don't know who else offers a really decent car or truck in every category.

It could be that Ford benefitted by having Chrysler and GM buyers simply switch to Ford. I have no data to support it, but it just seems to be a logical move for people who want to buy American but are worried about buying from a company that may not be around in a year.

 

All the credit goes to Alan Mulally who became Ford CEO two-and-a-half years ago.

Among the first things he did was restructure the company's debt so, unlike the other U.S. automakers, Ford isn't looking for a government bailout.

Mulally also sought to consolidate Ford's business. He sold off Jaguar and Volvo and Land Rover to concentrate on one thing: Ford.

"What we decided was that we're going to be in every market, we're going to go back to our roots and focus on Ford. ... We're going to have small, medium and large vehicles, cars, utilities and trucks. We also decided we're going to be best-in-class in quality and fuel efficiency and safety, and also offer the best value."

Then he went to work with the unions to make Ford more competitive. He swears his current agreement with the United Auto Workers makes Ford competitive with Japanese automakers who build cars in America. "We have aligned the wages to the real value," Mulally says, "all the work rule changes that we have made, that we now are competitive with our foreign competitors inside the U.S. and we can make cars inside the U.S. profitably, which is a tremendous development for the U.S. and also for Ford."

Every successful company has good leadership to thank for it!!

My first car was a Ford and our next car could very well be a Ford!

 

I'm glad to see Ford doing well, too. The Fusion is a step in the right direction, but for me it missed the mark due to higher cost and because I wanted a hatchback. If they expand their hybrid offerings, I'll certainly consider them in the future. Our family has owned a good number of Ford vehicles, and they've all been good quality, dependable cars.

 

I'm glad ford is doing ok in this tough time. I think alot of it sales are fleet like my work we buy dozens of full size trucks a year- we still buy them and most companys still need to buy them too. So i think the fact that most companys buy ford trucks has alot to do with fords sales not droping so much. More power to them. i don't see alot of companys buying Toyota's.

 

My Grandpop's '37 Ford was my first car at 16-years old...I loved that V-8, 60hp, mechanical brakes, and vacuum windshield wipers Wish I had the original stock '37 right now...in black, of course.

 

The Tundra until recently wasn't considered heavy-duty and if you listen to Ford / Chevy fans it still isn't. Regardless, most American companies have a tough time buying "foreign" name vehicles made in America but will buy "American" vehicles made outside of the states. It's all about public image. But the big reason are fleet discounts. I don't know where that will be headed but you wouldn't believe the prices we get on some GM and Ford products. If GM gets out of the business of being a sales leader in order to become profitable I'm not sure what happens to fleet sales.

Me; I have a Toyota 4Runner for a company vehicle. I also had one for one of my Superintendants and ordered two Tacoma's for teo of our foremen. The 4Runners were about $5000 more than their GM counterparts. I think the company has 1700+/- vehicles in the fleet and only a handfull were Toyota's. They stopped buying them right after I placed the order. Fortunately for me, mine will last me till I retire. The 4Runner has a cramped 2nd row, but it's the best midsized SUV I've driven.

 

Agreed. I think feature for feature it's priced similarly to the Camry Hybrid and Prius. They just don't offer a model to compete with the base Prius. The price was not what kept me from getting one. I've only seen one at my local dealership so I'm not sure how much luck Ford is having cranking them out. Maybe other areas are getting them?

 

My brothers 40 model Ford was a little more fun. It had a Chevy 327, hurst shifter, 16" slicks and open headers. Can you believe what they allowed on the road back in the 60's???

 

Does anyone know how Toyota dealership inventories are nationwide? Is Toyota trying to sell as many cars as Ford here in the US? I was at my dealership last Tuesday, and there were lots of Scions (20?), lots of Camrys (20 or so w/ 1 hybrid), lots of Tundras (15), no 4Runners, no Priuses, no Corollas, no Avalons, 2 Venzas and 2 Yarises. It's not a large dealership but they seemed to have a weird inventory mix. Just have to wonder if Toyota's performance is due to lack of vehicles, a poor mix of vehicles, high prices, and/or a planned downsizing to get back to profitability.

 

I can't really say if it's overpriced. I just know it's out of MY price range.

 

My sales manager buddy has told me that Toyota has backed off of production and he and other dealers have a problem getting stock. Yes sales would be down due to the economic issues but the dealers would sale more cars than what they are if they had more inventory. It's a no win situation right now.

 

Thanks. I would say that means this is a temporary issue, while Toyota tries to figure out what we Americans want. I'm not sure we know (although I do!).

 

Toyota is the leader in hybrid technology. Ford has licensed some of Toyota's technology in the Escape, with success. I would assume the same technology is used in the Fusion. The Prius is still the technology leader in hybrids. In my view, the most advanced passenger car in the world.

The car market is still slow. When it picks up, hybrids will probably lead the way.

 

A Ford powered by a Chev engine?
Is that a way to be loved or hated by all?

In times like these I hope all businesses are looking into ways to improve their product and bottom line. In hard times the real champions of industry are investing in their future when others are price cutting to attract business. Then when the economy turns around the smart players are in the blocks ready to run while the less smart are still in their warm up gear and the companies that are going to struggle are in the change room having been there since the start of the collapse.

It's great that Ford are weathering this recession well.

 

My '37 was a farm car for 13 years before I got it. Ha, I could see what looked like cotton threads on the worn tires when I drove it home. Gives me the shivers now just think'n about it. I'd say your brother was light years ahead with his '40 model...still, a cool look'n car.

 

Last fall when the Fusion Hybrid was first going into production, word from Ford was that they are limiting the production run of the 2010 Fusion / Milan Hybrid to 25,000 vehicles due to constraints in supply from Japan for the Aisin HD-20 Power Split Device transaxle, and the Sanyo NiMH battery pack.

Funny thing I've noticed here in the New York City metropolitan area: In the past couple weeks I no longer see any 2010 Prius commercials on TV, but Ford is still airing a lot of Fusion Hybrid ads on TV. I wonder how is the Fusion Hybrid selling.