Analysis: Ford's fading future

[Mr.DJ]

Analysis: Ford's fading future

Until nation's No. 2 automaker jazzes up lineup, it'll continue to lose significance -- and market share

General Motors Corp. may be struggling, but as far as industry insiders are concerned, financially troubled Ford Motor Co.'s prospects are bleaker. And the reasons are as obvious as the new models on the showroom floor, which are for the most part dull and uninteresting. And those in the pipeline don't seem to be much better.

"I've thought Ford was in worse shape than GM for the last six months or so," said Jack Nerad of Kelley Blue Book. "A lot of us were looking at what we already have from Ford and what we know is coming from Ford, and we are less positive about what's coming up for them vs. what GM has been announcing."

The dissatisfaction with Ford's product offerings is part of the reason why Fitch Ratings last week downgraded the long-term debt ratings for Ford and its financing unit deeper into junk status. Further market share losses and cost increases also were factors. "There is little to point to in terms of a turnaround for Ford in North America through 2007,'' said Mark Oline, Fitch managing director.

A look at some of today's vehicle segments illustrates where Ford has problems. "Must have" or so-called "halo" cars and trucks -- products that are showroom traffic generators that add luster to the whole product lineup even if consumers end up buying a different model -- are sorely lacking.

By contrast, rival GM has several, including the Chevy Corvette, Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters. Corvettes have been regularly snapped up for decades, and the Solstice and Sky are sellouts with waiting lists. In fact, GM reportedly is looking for ways to increase plant capacity to build more.

Moreover, sales of Ford's only "must have" car, the Mustang, already have slowed a year after the latest make was introduced. In May, sales were down 21 percent from a year ago, and are down 11.6 percent so far this year when compared to the same period last year.

Things aren't likely to get any easier for Mustang in the next year or two, with Chevy expected to introduce its competing Camaro and Dodge, its Challenger. There is even speculation that Pontiac may bring back the Firebird.

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Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
by Don Hammonds
Thursday, June 15, 2006

[MentallyChallenged]

Agree. Right now Ford is a one pony (pun intended) show.

[WildBillTX]

Like GM, Ford needs to stop building boring conservitive mom and pop cars! Mercury is really hurting. A quick way help them out would be the re-introduction of a new Mercury Cougar based on the Mustang.

And Ford has nothing to compete against DCX's 300 and Charger. The Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis are old folks cars. They havent had a big update since the early 90's, and now Ford's laziness has caught up with them.

[Rallye72]

Had it not been for the Challenger concept announcement earlier in the year there would probably be a Mitsu Eclipse GT or Hyundai Tiburon GT in my driveway now. I like the Mustang GT and looked at it hard but at 30k it was hard to justify.
Frankly, I don't much care what other types of cars any of the U.S. big 3 are producing, they are all pretty dull and all 3 will have to significantly overhaul their design approach to re-engage the public. My suspicion is that most (or many) people want cars that look like a Lamborghini but don't have the price tag. I gather from reading the posts here that most of you don't care for the imports like the Tiburon or the Eclipse but I happen to think they are awesome little cars. I also think that the muscle car craze has about run its course. The "dabblers" will leave the market soon and move on.

Having test driven the imports I found them to be a blast. I shied away from the Eclipse GT because it only takes premium fuel and I don't want to be tied to it next time the Gulf gets hit and they're only making regular (I'm in SE AZ and we're at the end of the supply pipeline out here).
I'm a dedicated Mopar guy but DCX wasn't producing anything of interest to me until the Chally came along. I'll wait for it to hit the dealers. Hopefully the dealer markup factor won't screw things up for to long. It took over a year for it to run its course with the Mustang GT, now they're stacking up on the lots. With luck we'll get two or three years out of the Challenger before it goes away.

[RamRon]

Originally Posted by Rallye72

The "dabblers" will leave the market soon and move on.

With luck we'll get two or three years out of the Challenger before it goes away.

Well, then, I guess that will make our new Challengers quite collectable then, won't it?

[Rallye72]

"Well, then, I guess that will make our new Challengers quite collectable then, won't it? "

Perhaps. I'm not in it for the collectability, and frankly no one can predict what will be "collectable". I want a car to drive that's a bit unique, scoots pretty good, and is great to look at.