Angry Ford dealer in SC calls imports "rice ready...not road ready"

Whining? I guess in the US stating uncomfortable facts is whining? Or maybe just on PC. The negative effect on the balance of payments between the US and Japan created by just the Prius is $3.3 billion.

 

China is the second largest automotive market in the world but only 3.1% of vehicles sold in China in 2007 were imported. GM does have the largest market share in China but those vehicle are made in China for the Chinese market. To manufacture products in China you must form a 50/50 joint venture with a Chinese company. GM's annual report doesn't break out China separately but GM made $681 million from its' Asian unit.

Ford is similar. From Ford's annual report we find Ford's profit and loss per region:

North America --------- (4,161)
South America ---------- 1,172
Europe ---------------------- 744
PAG ---------------------- (1,892)
Asia and Africa --------------- 2
Share of Mazda ------------ 204
Total ---------------------- (3,931)

(PAG = Premier Automotive Group = Lincoln, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin)

As you can see Ford was profitable in all markets except North America. However, these profits were not enough to offset the massive losses in the US.

Note: Ford as recently sold Jaguar, Land Rover, and Aston Martin. Volvo is up for sale and two Chinese companies are reportedly in negotiations to buy it.)

EDIT: Link for Chinese Statistic: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/IA26Cb02.html

 

I hear that tractors put Millions of share croppers out of a job, perhaps we should run John Deer out of town!
Seriously, the UAW refusing to allow the auto companies to make more efficient plants, and the management bowing to the demands of the UAW have led to the Detroit 3's downfall.
Great example can be seen here: detnews.com | Webvideo | Ford's most advanced assembly plant operates in rural Brazil

 

1. How many Ford models that he sells are made in the US and how many in Mexico or Canada?
2. Ford and GM sell all lot of cars in Europe. They are built in EUROPE.
3. Yes, Toyota imports cars to the U.S. AFTER they find what sells well, they build factories in the U.S. to build the vehicles.
4. The 'profits' do not go overseas, they go to the share holders. Buy stock in whatever company you think will do well. If people in the U.S. bought all the Toyota and Honda stock that goes up for sale, 'we' would own the companies and the profits would go HERE.
5. Where were the BIG 3 in 1995 when I bought my 'made in Japan' Honda Odyssey - "the most car like of minivans"? The first (and ONLY for a LONG time) with a 3rd row seat that folded into the floor instead of having to be removed and left on the front lawn? I didn't WANT a big minivan and that is all the BIG 3 had. Of course, I don't float the same direction as the main stream U.S. minivan buyer since Honda then 'super-sized' the Odyssey a few years later.
6. Where were the BIG 3 when I bought my 'made in Japan' Prius in 2004 and my wife's in 2006? The BIG 3 STILL don't make anything comparable. Where is the BIG 3 midsized 5 passenger 4 door car that gets ~47 MPG combined? Right, in their DREAMS.

I am sorry, I will not buy products that I do not want simply because the BIG 3 think I should buy whatever the hell they make. If they made a 'car like' minivan in 1995, I might have purchased it. If, when it comes time to replace my '04 Prius, they have a PHEV 5 passenger (sadly the Volt is only 4!) I MIGHT buy it, after comparing it to whatever else is available in the market.

 

When the day comes that your boss taps you on your should and tells you to meet you in his or her office you will feel the effects of your purchase decisions. Toyota exports $700 million dollars a day from the United States.

 

So that is roughly:

356*$700 m = $255,500 m. ?

That would be roughly: $255 B./year

So let's see,

US Oil Import Bill to Top $400 billion this Year, Says Petroleum Intelligence Weekly | Business Wire | Find Articles at BNET

Well it is sort of who do you want to pay for what:

1. Japanese and you still have the car
2. OPEC and you burn up the oil, it is gone

You're choice.

Bob Wilson

 

First of all I will buy an American Made car if they would make a comparable model of Prius.

Second their are more cars assemblied in Mexico and Canada are they american cars.

Third, check out how many foreign parts are in a american car.

Fourth, how many new plants are there for the american cars, none, Honda, Toyota are building new plants in the US and are hiring american workers.

Between the Union and the Executives they can compete with foreign made cars price wise or quality.

 

Does the Ford dealer have a car to sell me that gets more than 46mpg? If so, I will be happy to test drive it.

 

x

 

My mistake it is only $100 million/day.

As for my money I want all of my money staying in the US. If the Prius is the only import from Japan in 2007 we would have reduced the automotive deficit with japan by $57 billion and the rest of the cars get about the same mileage.

 

Well, if US automakers MADE a car that came close to the Prius in fuel efficiency perhaps they would have sold some?
Oh wait, they did, the EV1. What?? Oh, they did what??? Oh, I see, um nevermind.

 

Were are Ford products for the North American Market made?

All the Volvo's are imported either from 2 plants in Sweden or 1 in Belgium

Ford has 3 Canadian assembly plants:
Oakville Ontario = Ford Edge, Lincoln MKX, Ford Flex
Oakville Ontario = F-Series Trucks
Talbotville, Ontario = Ford Crown Victoria, Lincoln Towncar, Mercury Grand Marquis

Ford has 2 Mexican assembly plants:
Cuantitlan = F-Series, Fiesta, IKON (Of these only the F-Series is imported into the US)
Hermosillo = Ford Fusion, Lincoln MKZ, Mercury Milan

Ford has 12 US assembly plants:
Michigan (4)
Illinois (1)
Missouri (2)
Kentucky (2)
New Jersey (1)
Ohio (1)
Minnesota (1)

If you want the worldwide list: List of Ford factories - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The Prius makes up ~ 2% of US auto sales. All hybrids make up ~ 3% of US auto sales.

You may have bought a US PRIUS equivalent but 97% of buyers would not have. You and I are not the normal car buyer.

 

Don't confuse these guy with the facts. It seems as though some of the folks think all of the casrs sold in the US are toyota's, half are hybrids and a third are Priuses.

 

Looks as though Ford actually does make cars and trucks in the US. They also sell them in Canada and mexico and since the US is in a trade agreement called NAFTA it would make sense that Ford would have assembly plants in those two countries.

 

Would that money be worse spent than the billions (I calculated almost a trillion or more during high gas prices) sent to Arab countries that hate us, in the form of paying for more oil due to lower fuel economy vehicles?

Japan is an efficient country that since WW2 has had no war ambitions. We used nukes on them, and that has totally pacified them. Even if they were to become aggressive, they are a small island - it would not take much to destroy them if we really had to.

We can't even successfully rid cities in Iraq of "combatants" wearing sheets and sandals with relatively primitive weapons.

I think I know who I would rather send money overseas to.

 

The poor Ford dealer in SC and the Detroit automakers have got to wake-up and realize that they must compete in a global economy, or die.

The beautiful thing about a free-enterprise system is that it has the inherent ability to efficiently weed-out those companies that no longer produce competitive products. The "market" does not care if you are a dinky company or a huge company like GM Ford, or Chrysler...

I really don't want to see any of the Detroit auto makers fail, but their future is in their own hands.

Keith

 

In their own hands except for the closed markets in korea, and Japan which the competition is able to use as a "cash cow", the government provided health care, the government funded pensions, the subsidized transportation, the government funded r & d, the government subsidized zero interest capital, not to mention teh undervalued yen. Yeah the free-enterprise system works like a charm as long as you are not an american company trying to do business in America with American workers. May the last man turn out the lights. i think it is over. Brace yourself it is going to be a long, painful learning experience.

 

Aargh!

Malorn,

It seems like you don't/won't/can't see the forest for the trees. You keep
spinning the numbers, but that's just a restatement of the current situation.
It doesn't in any way address the fundametal issues that got us here.

Virtually every Asian vehicle when it was first introduced in the US was a
joke by domestic standards; too small, under powered, rotten quality, rust
prone, etc. But the Asians were in it for the long haul. They read the writing
on the wall and changed. Essentially, they focused on quality, customer
satisfaction, low operating costs (high MPG, high mileage warantees), and
value. Interestingly enough, 3 out of 4 of these are not "things," they are
perceptions.

Meanwhile, what were the Big 3 up to domestically? God only knows, but it
didn't have anything to do with true quality, satisfaction, FE, or value. The
proof of this is that folks were buying more and more Hondas, Toyotas,
Mitsus, Suzukis, Kias, Hyundais (Did I miss any?)

So, the Big 3 have made BIG MISTAKES. And now, even those millions of
consumer/citizens who saw through the smoke and mirrors, and bought cars
that best met their real needs based on long term concerns like quality,
satisfaction, MPGs, and value have to foot the bill to save the self-serving,
self-aggrandizing, short-sighted, in-bred, creatively sterile, fat-cat
corporations that have in effect dug their own graves over the last two
decades.

Ain't this situation a kick in the (pick one: head, "chops", chin, gut, nice person)?

It is enough to make a grown man cry. And cry many will, with their
women, as they struggle to make it through the hard times ahead. What,
they're supposed to feel sorry for the very people/corporations that created
their living hell?

I don't think so. Like I said before, Aargh!

 

Have you read the Automotive news special edition on Toyota's 50th anniversary in the US. It talks about the three times they were ready to pull out of the US because of a lack of success, but with incredible encouragement from miti in the form of $$$$$$ and words they persevered. The tird time was the kicker. In 1972 they again were ready to pull out of the US, almost one years worth of coronas and corollas stacked up at the ports and wham. The OPEC oil embargo, and all of a sudden there is a demand for the ugly little econoboxes. Ask yourself would Ford or GM have received the same assistance?