A Mustang a minute.....

[70 copo]

Not Good

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...tEverLoss.aspx

Phil

[nuch_ss396]

40 years ago I would have been cheering ( hated the FORD guys )!

Now that I'm grown, I realize just how catastrophic this is
for all of us. Think the Gov't will help bail them out like
they did for Iacoca years ago? God, I hope so. Sad day indeed...........

Nuch

[ANDY M]

Keeping in mind that the Ford family owns the Lions, I have my worries about the guys they hired to turn things around.
They don't have a very good track record, at least not since Lee Iacoco. Like GM, they have given too much of their profits back to the union AND management, instead of reinvesting into more effiecent mfg processes. Now they are trying to get rid of 30,000 people to lower their payroll, which begs the question: why were they there in the first place?
Is Ford cutting off it's nose to spite it's face, hoping just to stay in business, or did they have that much dead wood?
Not good either way, and this doesn't begin to cover what is wrong with the product line they make.
No wonder Toyota is eating their lunch. No union, complete focus on quality, willing to listen to employee feedback, and steady profitability.

[nuch_ss396]

Andy,

30,000 "expendable" employees! That boggles the mind.
What in God's name where their positions that they can
afford to let them go. I also think the unions have
basically crippled the auto makers. Their time is past.

I spend a lot of time in a Gov't facility that is unionized
and I can't even begin to tell you how counter productive
it all is. If Ford has anything like this to deal with, I
think I can understand why they are dieing on the vine.

Can you imagine a day when one of the big three disappears
from our landscape and a foreign auto maker takes their
place? It doesn't look to be that far away. Look at KIA.
I'm not recommending their cars, but cheep prices, 100,000
mile warranty, etc.. They are hungry for growth and willing
to bank on the future.

I was out looking for cars for my daughter and I'm looking
at $14,000 for a used Taurus or $14,000 for a new KIA.
The 100,000 mile warranty is amazing. It's a tough call
because I want to keep our companies going strong. But
at what price?

Steve

[ANDY M]

Funny you should mention KIA. They used to be owned by Ford. Remember the Ford Festiva? POS tin can, cost Ford big $$, and when they (KIA) got their act together, following Hyundi's lead, they went off on their own.
All of the foreign mfgs came here because North America has the most productive workforce in the world!
When paid a fair wage, with flexible management that actually listens to their workers, they can't lose.
Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Suzuki, Hyundi, Mercedes, BMW, they all built plants in North America becuase they all make money.

[nuch_ss396]

Well then what's the problem Andy? All the automakers are
making money in North America except the big three! There
should be a lesson hiding in there somewhere........

Steve