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AT&T To Buy 15,000 Hybrid, Natural Gas-Powered Vehicles From Ford
Detroit, 11:13 AM
Sun Dec 6
12 posts in the last 24 hours
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AT&T To Buy 15,000 Hybrid, Natural Gas-Powered Vehicles From Ford |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
03/12/09
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Equipment charge - $1,000
Excercise tax - $300
Roaming - $100
Federal Road Use Tax-$200
State Road Use Tax - $100
Maintenance Agreement$150
Roadside Assistance -$100
Peak Usage (7am-9pm)-$125
Non-peak Usage - Free
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03/12/09
But this is a great bump for Ford's hybrid and alt fuels lines, so it will get them to profitability and able to roll out revised product sooner. AT&T has a huge fleet, so landing the contract to replace a substantial amount is only going to help the bottom line. Plus we'll get to see how hydrogen and lightening behave in the presence of additional electricity. Might make for some entertaining video.
03/12/09
If you wanna get down, use a fuel that sinks to the ground: propane
Forks lift high, forks lift high, forks lift high on propane.
When Ford has bad news, they want a flame that burns blue; propane
When the Duramax is done, you can still make trucks run; propane.
Forks lift high, forks lift high, forks lift high on propane.
If fleet sales have gone and Ford wants to ride on; propane.
Don't forget this fact, it's still made from gas; propane.
Forks lift high, forks lift high, forks lift high on propane.
03/12/09
/J.J. Cale fan
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Their fleet is getting older, and they are now a TV service provider as well as a cell and telephone/internet provider.
03/12/09
/bitter
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/AT&T customer
03/12/09
The only large item on there is caller ID, which, believe it or not, is $9.50 a month.
Talk about death knell. I'm about to ditch the landline, but I don't trust Verizon Wireless much more than I do AT&T, so I keep both. Plus, the occasional hassles when you don't have a landline (credit, job stuff)
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I agree that their stock price is good, but they are in the same boat as everyone else. They are doing the same actions, etc.
The ONE thing they have going for them is they borrowed a TON of money in 06, when they could. If they hadn't, they most certainly would be needing to now, and if the other two had mortgaged everything then, they wouldn't have needed to borrow so soon.
Public perception is so easily swayed without knowing what is going on, it is hiliarious.
03/12/09
At the end of the day I still think Ford is the only one out of the three that has vehicles that people actually want to buy.
I feel Ford is the only one that gets this concept of, building what people want.
03/12/09
I'll give you that Ford definitely hit the hybrid game properly, but what Ford could you possibly want more than a CTS-V, a ZR-1, a G8 GXP...
03/12/09
Well the high-volume stuff is all that matters right now. Granted I would love to have a CTS-V, ZR1, etc ... I'm talking about the general public that's going to be buying cars. This is what's going to make them the most bank at the end of the day.
GM had great cars for enthusiasts but how many a year were they selling?
Right now everyone just needs to focus on basics, so they can survive.
03/12/09
On top of that, because Ford is unconstrained by the whims of Congress in its product planning, it can offer products that people really *want/need*. They will look good to Congress -- if they ever have to go begging for "loans" -- and the enviro-whackos because of their hybrid vehicles (which are real and not pipedreams like Chrysler's), they have the Fusion (a midsize family car that is actually decent to drive and get's good mileage), and future plans to consolidate design between the US and Europe as well as bring the smaller, more fuel-efficient cars they offer in Europe to the US. Why does this matter? People, in general, know that gas isn't going to stay at $2 a gallon for long and are going to wantmore fuel-efficient cars. Ford is preparing themselves to offer those vehicles here and at the same time be able to go after Toyota and Honda.
Does Ford have the most "exciting" cars out there? Probably not. The Taurus SHO will add some excitement to their lineup and the Mustang is still looking good, but they are building the cars that people need and can afford. I want an M3. I can afford a Fusion.
As long as Ford keeps their heads north of their asses and south of the clouds they will do alright.
As far as buying stock, it's a gamble. Yes, Ford does seem to be the strongest financially, but that money right now is all debt. They are still losing money and have negative equity. As a stock trader, equity is what matters.
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A lot rides on the Camaro, too. The Mustang has been a perennial good seller and I see absolutely no reason why the Camaro won't be as well.
03/12/09
I agree. Ford's mgmt (Mulally) took risks on those loans, and boy has it paid off. Wether it's luck, or just his experience with restructuring and knowing the cash burn will be huge, and the risks unkown, I can't say.
Also, the potential interference by the gov't as a lender is frightening, but at this point it hasn't done anything, certainly not for me to sit and say "Ford is the only one doing the right things."
Put it this way, I know a lot about both, and left Ford to come to GM 7 months ago and don't regret it (pending we don't actually go away all together). Many analysts still have GM as best positioned once this recession ends, for a littany of reasons.
03/12/09
Ford made smart moves. Proving there might be some brains in there. They cut back early, where as GM took note from President Bush and said "Stay the Course" well we all know how well that turned out. Now the U.S. is being pushed aside as a leading nation, and GM is falling harder and faster then Ford.
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The other thing that really signals to me that Ford gets it more than GM is Ford has shifted their focus from market share to profits. GM, based on every press release and SEC filing I've read recently, is still very much focused on market share. That's part of the problem that got the Big 2.25 in trouble in the first place. Instead of making sure they are making money on every car that goes out the door save for a halo car, they are focused on maintaining a percentage of the market at all costs. Yes, GM sells more cars in the US than anyone else, but they also lose money on a good number of those cars. That's a business model that any 4th grader with a lemonade stand will tell you won't work. Ford is trying to align itself so that it is profitable on every car it sells.
03/12/09
Obviously now that GM/Chrysler have reached the very edge of the line between total dissolution and existence as an independent company, NOW they try and fix it all. Sorry guys. Too little, too late. Yeah your Camaro is nice, but that car is totally irrelevant. Start building good small cars, then worry about expensive niche gas guzzlers. Volt, Cruze are great efforts. I just choose to ignore them because who knows how long it will take before they are on sale, or if Americans will get the chance to buy them at all.
@rlj676-Carbon Footprint Size - Clownshoe: Thats just it. GM would rather hold onto a brand like Hummer then sell or discontinue it! The fact that brand is still in existence is proof to me GM does NOT get it. Firstly, every day GM is selling Hummers (as rare as those days are) they are hurting their image and reputation. Who wants to bail out a company building a car totally opposite to what is important in the consumer's eyes? Then you've got the horrible sales, and they aren't even good cars! The entire image the brand has tried to build (off road capability, durability), is a total bs visage. My ratty old '76 Jeep is less likely to get stuck on the trail then any Hummer of any year, driven by any driver.
@rlj676-Carbon Footprint Size - Clownshoe: Isn't the case? Huh. Better to me means F-150 not only getting the best fuel economy of any quarter ton truck, but having the highest payload and towing capability. Better is Ford Fusion Hybrid getting significantly improved fuel economy over any other hybrid or gas powered family sedan on the market. Better a 365HP twin-turbocharged Ford Taurus with AWD that gets better fuel economy then a 3.8L V6-powered FWD-only Chevy Impala. Better is having more IIHS Top Safety Picks then any other American brand.
03/12/09
I know you are a Ford "crazy person", as you love a Tempo, but even you would know you're comparing apples and oranges to fit your arguments.
You are comparing older GM cars to yet unreleased Ford's and frankly, I'm not concerned with 33mpg for the 09 Malibu vs the 34 for the 10 Fusion, as both are good. Guess which one will sell more still?
Overall, your Ford myopic vision is funny, as the statements you make about any of the Det 3 can be applied to the others. You dismiss the Volt as not on sale, but talk about the GTDI's as the revolutionary, but you can't buy them either.
And still, the FACTS simply state that GM's cars OUTSELL Ford's in basically all segments, so my point of "people want" them more is irrifutable. You too are confusing your opinion of what the better car is with a fact. I checked my facts at Ward's auto data, you are just being a fanboy. Oh, and I like much of Ford's cars very much, but they make nothing I aspire to own (ie a CTS-V, ZR1, GXP....etc)
03/12/09
I know. I am being a fan boy, I'll admit. I just want to see GM make something appealing that doesn't have a V8. Which is, sort of you know, important right now. What we've got is Impala and Cobalt. Okay so Ford's Focus is a pos, but I'll take the current AWD Taurus over the aged Impala or the Fusion over Malibu. I apologize for my biased stance, but my family has owned many a GM product over the year. I'm sorry, but every single one of them were terrible. Out of four in the past five years, none of them had a transmission last more then 100,000 miles.
BTW: Fusion gets 43MPG, not 34. Big difference. :P
03/13/09
Now you're really going apples to oranges, as that's a hybrid, and I'm talking mainstream sales here.
I personally, really, really like the Malibu better (GM bias aside even, as I liked it better when it came out, and I worked at Ford). I'd take a Cobalt SS over any Focus, but for the normal person Sync could make the decision.
I agree on the Taurus though (current one) as I like it better than the Impala, but sales don't lie.
03/13/09
1. A transmission that lasts more then 100,000 miles.
2. An interior built wither higher quality materials then my two decade old Ford economy car.
3. An interior put together right.
I don't give a rats ass about power and speed right now. Thats just me though. And as good as Malibu is, name one thing it brings to the segment I cannot get on a Toyota Camry or Ford Fusion. One significant thing, and I'll shut my mouth for lack of knowledge on the subject. I can name a few things Fusion gives you. Sync, Hybrid power, AWD.