Featured Ford to stop selling most cars in North America

For the sake of our environment we should all hope gas prices go up.

Also, statistically, less lives are lost on the road the higher gas prices go up. I assume it is due to less overall miles being driven.

 

And people not driving as fast.

 

The one where all the landscape is being torn up behind the car?

 

What a bunch of Maroons!! We're inching up to $4.00/gal gas here in Socal... Waiting for the $5 push this summer. I hope Ford and its Lumber Wagon dinosaurs goes down in flames! I'm waiting for the guvmint to mandate Semi-truck licenses to drive these Behemoths!! AND parking spaces are getting smaller and smaller out here. Door ding heaven!! Soon it'll be ITYS, ITYS, for you acronym fiends. (I told you so).

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AChoiredTaste.com

 

No no, of course not!! The market, like some politicians is completely stable! A big company like Ford MUST know what they're doing; ask GM or Chrysler!!
These idiots believe in recycling: the same old stupid ideas.

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AChoiredTaste.com

 

They're probably planning on buying some politicians. I'm sure there's quite a few up for sale right now.

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AChoiredTaste.com

 

I think it might be a LOT sooner. However there are some dangerous political tricks being attempted RIGHT now within the Extremely Politicized Agency. We can only hope that perhaps some Prune It heads will roll!! Great Scott!!

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AChoiredTaste.com

 

Don't forget reliability!!!

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AChoiredTaste.com

 

No, silly, it's a chocolate and white cream cookie!!

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AChoiredTaste.com

 

Not Oui (we), mon ami, it is Ford and other so-called INDUSTRY LEADERS who are short-sighted imbeciles! All stock market motivated to the long-term detriment of our country and its people! Somebody give these buffoons a telescope!!

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AChoiredTaste.com

 

There is a certain over 100 year old company, which shall not be named to protect the innocent, whose initials are ge, that thought energy prices would never go down.
So they invested every last dime into energy around the world.
Well, you can probably guess what happened.
All it takes is a little greed from a ceo et al, to “get theirs”, and who cares about the future.

 

Our CHEAPEST gas here in my Socal area is $3.43. Most of the the cheap gas is $3.60 to $3.70. Don't ask about Mid Grade or Premium! They're threatening us with substantial price increases this summer, so hang on to your shorts. The other thing that nobody seems to be mentioning here is the ease of parking and the fantastically better handling of the smaller cars.
The inertia of a stopped pig keeps the pig at rest (crappy acceleration) or keeps a moving pig in motion (crappy braking and handling), Sir Isaac Newton, (Pig Rules for SUVs and trucks!)


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AChoiredTaste.com

 

Front Page Headline Story in the local paper is how people are reacting to $2.60 gas. I'm laughing as it has been weeks since I filled the tank and I'm one bar down. I love pulling up at the pump across from some huge machine and pulling out while they are still in mid tank fill. Not nice but still ....

 

Wow..I was guessing above that people would freak out at $3.50!

The gas pump is one of the true joys of owning a Prius. Lots of 'huge trucks' in our neck of the woods. I often complete my entire transaction while they are still pumping.

 

That must be why people are buying the smaller SUVs

Ford isn't getting rid of small vehicles, just most of what would be called a traditional car. The Taurus is going, and it is about a half foot wider and just over two feet longer than the Prius. It covers more pavement than the Avalon. The Escape, Rav4, and other SUVs of that class sit between the Prius and Camry in the amount of area their length and height take up. They are taller, but the taller sitting height is part of their attraction, and people buying them aren't necessarily trading up for a bigger vehicle. A friend actually got a Rav4h to replace a Tahoe.

 

Large non luxury cars are probably dead. The taurus loses money, and it probably never will again. Those people that needed large cars for cargo or people have gone SUV or minivan. One publication was shocked ford still made enough to anounce they will kill it next year.

Ford makes money selling the fiesta in other markets but not north america. It probably has to do with the UAW. Kill it. The anti mexican people will be happy as its made in mexico. The more they sell here the more they lose. If markets change to sell more, with the competition they would lose more money. Yes kill it next year. If they find something is needed they can do what toyota is doing (getting mazda to build a mazda 2, call it a yaris, and sell that). Toyota can't even make money selling subcompacts in north america that they build themselves.

On the focus, well they didn't really kill it. They looked at the corolla and civic, and said they can't compete directly. They picked a single model the "active". It really is the focus. They can build a sedan again if there is a market, or import it. active is going to be imported from china.

Then we get to the fusion. It doesn't make sense that they kill it, and there is no date. They will keep making them as long as they make money. They did kill the 2020 my redesign. Get all the bad news out at once.

Between all the cuts ford saves $5B in costs. All together these 5 car lines lose money. Maybe 3 car lines the mustang, the Active (focus) and the fusion which they are no longer investing in but still building.

Its probably better to save the money and invest in the highly profitable f150, explorer, and escape. Look at tesla's market value comparatively. They don't have a large non luxury car or a sub compact. They don't need either.

 

Yes, reliability is a key. When the 2010 Prius wouldn't start (first problem in 8-9 years), I called a tow truck. When he got here, I rode down into the parking garage with him and he asked about what kind of car. When I said, "Toyota Prius", he said, "We never tow Toyotas and Hondas. I'll bet it'll jump start just fine." It did. After 8+ years, the 12-volt battery had finally failed. First failure and only failure.

 

Ford may agree with Tesla's claim about mid-level sedan, market share:

NOTE: I'm Southern and this kid is babbling. I slowed it to 75% and it became less frantic. Perhaps some of our NorthEast members could translate?

Bob Wilson

 

Small cars are great for parking and for driving down narrow curvy roads with lots of cyclists that act like they're in the Tour de France and really don't want to acknowledge that there might be cars on the road trying to pass them ("sharing the road" needs to go both ways).

I'm not sure about the "fantastically better handling" though, depending on how you define handling. Small, light cars tend to be "flickable" in that they respond very quickly, but that doesn't mean they handle exceptionally well. Comparing our Prius to our Escape, they both handle about the same, the Escape offsetting it's higher body with better tires and independent rear suspension. And since we're comparing cars to SUVs, both the Escape and Prius are 5.5' from the hatch to the back of the front seats with the back seats folded, so the only advantage the SUV has is the higher roofline. If you're trying to carry a dog behind the rear seat that is significant.