Featured Ford to stop selling most cars in North America

Hope this again works out for the efficient sedan guys. But I get the sense, like Americans upsizing houses over the last few decades, this time is different and would bet SUVs and trucks as a large percent of new car sales are here to stay.

Fuel expenditures represent less and less of of the average commuter budget over time. And with further hybridization and electrification, gasoline price becomes less of an issue.

And once Americans get a taste of hauling around a beast of spaciousness and one upping their fellow commuters for visibility, it’s hard to go back.

 

Actually, I drove our pickup truck to work yesterday and it felt foreign to me. Glad to be back in my Prius today.
I got the truck inspected yesterday.

 

i wish i had kept my Orius.

 

...Noted & corrected...

 

what, you sold yours too?

 

At least I was driving a Toyota truck.

 

Orius? Isn't that a male body part? I mean I checked mine and can't see how it could be removed.

 

Huh.
It's either brilliant or devastatingly stupid and I can't tell.
Ford plans to phase out nearly every car they sell in North America is a shocking headline. But maybe not applicably as shocking when you realize that they still plan to sell Trucks, SUV's and Crossovers.

Let's focus our business on the vehicles we sell in the greatest quantity and phase out the Lions Share of our standard sedan and small vehicle line-up, sounds to me like an idea that sells well in a boardroom or with shareholders.

And my argument against it is very emotional.
I don't like it because it is a surrender. Ford is basically surrendering in the sedan and small vehicle segment in North America, leaving it for Toyota, Honda, Mazda, VW, KIA, and Hyundai....basically everyone else.

Henry Ford mass produced the Model-T, a vehicle for the masses. With it he changed not only automotive manufacturing but automobile sales, and ownership. He famously was quoted as saying you could get the Model T in any color as long as it was black.

Now in 2018 Ford is saying, if you live in North America and want a Ford Sedan....you can't get it at all.

Even if it financially makes sense, The idea that a major automaker would simply not offer sedan or small vehicle product in North America seems troubling at best.

I think you have to stay in that fight, to stay in THE fight.

As a founding father of automobile manufacturing, it should be nearly genetic.

Having said all this, I could be wrong. Maybe focusing manufacturing and sales in North America will prove to be excellent business strategy?

 

Pity the dealer who has 40 of Ford's sedans on his lot. What are they worth now? What help will come from Ford? And what contribution did the EPA make to this decision?

 

Market disruption usually occurs with innovative new products. How is this happening here? Where's the innovation? However, chopping SKUs is often the right move.

 

Probably about the same as before they announced plans to axe them? I mean they are slow sellers, but they do sell. Otherwise they'll pull a Pontiac and just sell them as used or CPO cars once they get too old.

 

Consider the political environment - it's likely we will see some relaxation on CAFE rules in the near future. I personally weep for the loss of the Focus ST and RS (don't bother mentioning the stupid Edge ST).

#1 already happened recently with the exit of Raj Nair (who apparently had a reputation for pushing the production of "cool" cars) and Mark Fields.

#3 is the new Focus Crossover (ugh)

 

you mean as a coffin?

.

 

From comments here and elsewhere, I think many are taking the "no more cars" state to mean "only big trucks and SUVs", and that is simply not true.

The Focus Active is still a Focus. Just with a Subaru Outback treatment. The US now has the Ecosport, and the Ranger is going to return.

Other reports have a Ford comment about "white space" design. At first glance, it sounds like they are talking about more crossovers, but it doesn't exclude sedans, or sedan like hatchbacks.

With their push for more hybrids and plug ins, Ford likely won't need small, actual cars in the event of high gas prices. In the short term, such could hurt, but overall new car sales were already going down, and the companies are shifting for that.

 

Chocolate or vanilla?

 

IIRC, aren't the larger land barges exempt from CARB ? that might be an easy way for Ford to beat the system. Just sell Mongo pickups & SUV"s .... just what the typical "gas is cheep" family mostly wants to buy nowadays anyway.
.

 

If and only if you ignore both inflation and gasoline's cash subsidies.

 

No, inflation and any subsidies are accounted for:


Consumer purchases of energy goods and services as a percentage of total consumption spending


Energy prices and consumer spending | Econbrowser