When Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) reports its fourth quarter earnings this Thursday, the U.S. automaker is widely expected to post yet another huge loss. Although Ford may have been called a leading manufacturing expert in the past, the slow pace of its turnaround will continue hurting it for at least all of 2008. CEO Alan Mulally's Way Forward plan is making progress, but people are buying less cars due to a slowing economy -- and Ford has just as much competition now as it ever had.Ford investors are well aware of this as shares in the automaker are already sitting at 16-year lows. This week's earnings results won't change it for the better, as analysts expect a loss of $0.20 per share on sales of $38.3 billion. It's not just Ford that will suffer soon. Analyst David Silver said, "November and December were just horrible months for auto sales in the U.S." Encouraging words? Well, maybe not.
Although Asia and Central America sales may be a sweet spot for Ford this Thursday, its domestic sales may continue the slide they saw in the Q3 period, when Ford lost a billion greenbacks in the U.S. market. It was 2007 and Ford still considered trucks and SUVs to be the heart of its product lineup. Trouble is, consumers are running away screaming from those product lines due to shabby fuel economy figures. A bright spot continues to be the Ford Edge, an SUV crossover (or, CUV) that is selling very well for Ford. It has car-like handling, SUV-like storage and car-like gas mileage. Go figure -- customers are swallowing them up. It still can't rescue Ford from many more quarters of lackluster performance.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-23-2008 @ 4:47PM
dufferal said...
toyoto is selling its prius like crazy. what are the big 3 doing about it? nothing! all 3 should be fired. gas milage is the name of the game you dummies. my next car will be a prius.
1-23-2008 @ 4:44PM
dufferal said...
the ceo;s of the big 3 should be fired. toyoto is selling the prius because of gas milage. wake up you dummies. gas milage is the name of the game. my next car will be a toyoto. duff.
1-23-2008 @ 6:15PM
Jerry Sombati said...
ah, well lets wait for them rebate checks for $800 Bush wants to hand out, then we can all buy toyota pruis, The Japaneses Govt can hardly wait for all them dollars heading for Japan, foolish americanos, the Imperial Japan govt is winning what they lost in world war II, only in America can people be so stupid,
1-23-2008 @ 6:32PM
Jerry Sombati said...
also it is widely known that Toyota only allows americans to work for them if they OWNED by a Japanese, Americans contractors cannot get jobs at Toyota, or do work for them if theyre not OWNED by a Japanese, keep supporting this company and one day you be OWNED By Japan,
1-22-2008 @ 3:35PM
albert said...
Also Ford is not helped by hundreds of thousands of people boycotting their company.
www.boycottford.com
1-22-2008 @ 6:57PM
jpdr1100 said...
"People are buying less cars?"
Well, they are getting smaller.
1-23-2008 @ 1:23AM
Raymond D Royall said...
During World War II the U. S. was able to out produce both Germandy and Japan. Willys Motor Co was able to produce a Jeep every 80 seconds. Ford built machine guns and tanks. Packard built PT Boat engines, while Studebaker and GM built trucks. Hudson Motor Company built air craft components. When we go to World War III who will build the equipment we need to defend this country. China? Japan? France? Studebaker, Packard, Hudson, Nash are gone. The future does not look good for Ford, Chrysler or GM. If you look at the CSI rating Ford and GM are building great vehicles, but I guess it's just not in style to buy American. It's like we just have to get the money out of this country. With a trade deficit of 2 billion dollars every day, no wonder the dollar isn't worth much.