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Ford boosts fourth quarter production

Posted Aug 13th 2009 3:20PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Good news, Products and services, Industry, Consumer experience, Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Money and Finance Today, Financial Crisis

Ford boosts fourth quarter productionWith so many people rushing out to take advantage of the "cash for clunkers" program, American auto maker Ford Motor (NYSE: F) has announced that it will be significantly boosting fourth quarter production.

There has been a lot of debate over whether or not the "cash for clunkers" program is good for the economy, but there is little debate as to its popularity. The program offers up to a $4,500 incentive for people exchanging their old gas guzzlers in for newer, more fuel efficient vehicles, and has been much more popular than anyone could have imagined.

Continue reading Ford boosts fourth quarter production

A year ago on BloggingStocks: January 4, 2008

Posted Jan 4th 2009 6:10PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Google (GOOG), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Boeing Co (BA)

Ford Focus success shows change is happening at Ford, but it's still too little and too late

Posted Apr 15th 2008 9:30AM by Andrew Horowitz (RSS feed)
Filed under: Industry, Competitive strategy, Daimler (DAI), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM)

Sometimes it takes a sledgehammer to the head to get a company to change direction.

Fuel costs are soaring, profits are dwindling and companies are desperate. Yet, nimble as they would like to be, U.S. auto manufacturers have been unable to provide any significant benefit to consumers in terms of meaningful fuel efficiency. Up until last year, SUV sales were still the dominant component of sales for the Big 3. It wasn't until the pain of a significant drop in SUV sales was realized and reports showed U.S. auto sales to be the lowest since 1993 that our old friend Mr. Hammer was able to wake up a sleeping (or it it dying?) U.S. auto industry.

Now Ford (NYSE: F) is trumpeting a dramatic increase in demand for its economical Ford Focus and boosting output by 30%. But I think the change is too little too late.

The truth is that U.S. vehicle sales are expected to drop by 15 million units in 2008. An increase of 30% of the Ford Focus would still mean a paltry benefit as these lower cost models also have a lower profit margin for Ford. So, as consumers buy more lower margin cars, Ford makes less money.

Continue reading Ford Focus success shows change is happening at Ford, but it's still too little and too late

Ford's Sync is a hit -- the new Focus, not so much

Posted Jan 4th 2008 9:33AM by Michael Rainey (RSS feed)
Filed under: Products and services, Consumer experience, Microsoft (MSFT), Ford Motor (F), Next big thing, Technology

In the words of one reviewer, "it's hard to hide the disappointment" with the new 2008 Focus from Ford Motor (NYSE: F). While the car is "serviceable," it lacks the pizazz of the new compact cars from Honda, Mazda and Volvo. This is particularly annoying since Ford owns Volvo and has a stake in Mazda.

To make matters worse, there is a new Focus made by Ford in Europe which is earning rave reviews. But the American version of the car will not use the more advanced platform of the European model. It's the same old story: American consumers get the boring version of Detroit's global efforts. In this case, they even have to put up with cheesy fake air vents glued to the fender.

The good news is that Ford's new Sync electronics system is getting lots of positive reviews. As our own Brian White noted (Mr. Softy climbs in with Ford), Sync was developed with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and allows drivers to use their MP3 players and cell phones in the car with voice-activated software. The reviewer at The New York Times thinks it's a great system, going so far as to say that it is far better than BMW's iDrive. Our pals at AutoBlog agree, and they claim that Sync is actually helping Ford sell more cars. So even though the car itself may be dull, at least you'll have a cool computer system to keep you from noticing too much.

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Last updated: November 27, 2009: 01:56 AM

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