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Detroit, 9:14 PM
Fri Nov 20
28 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/05/09
10/05/09
I am shocked and dismayed to learn of such improprieties.
Seriously, Ray: drop this bitch fight with Scott Monty. It doesn't reflect well on you.
10/05/09
1. Design and build new car.
2. Make sure everyone knows about the car.
3. ????
4. Profit!
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10/05/09
Odd number of comments, Ben Parr wins. Even, Scott Monty.
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10/05/09
If your statement is just saying "Ford didn't take any gov't money, so people love them" than I wholly agree.
10/05/09
I'm actually really looking forward to the Grand C-Max. I can't imagine any other company offering a minivan that I'd actually look forward to.
10/05/09
10/05/09
No matter what you do, you can't get beyond the marketing. Either you get Steve McQueen (or whoever you consider your hero) hawking a product, and collecting a handsome paycheck -my fav is Gene Hackman doing Lowes commercials- or you get some No-Name. With the celebrity, you might have a bit of honesty and integrity. Think Bill Cosby and Jello. With the no-name, you're likley to ignore the endorsement altogether.
Bottom line, some of GM's stuff HAS to be good. Ford isn't GM, The powers-that-be at Ford were smart enough to recognize and react far in advance of GM. Cerberus, as someone put it, was day trading Chrysler, and it deservedly blew up in their face. I say, give GM an objective look, because as a long time Chrysler buyer, I am.
10/05/09
10/05/09
The C-Max will be the Focus platform, so in essence, the successor to the Mazda5. Hopefully the 2.0 turbo and stick will be an option. They're supposed to keep the 7th seat, too.
10/05/09
I am a GM guy, and I readily admit that their offerings have been crappy until recently. The new Malibu, Camaro, CTS, STS, XLR, SRX, Enclave, Astra, new Vue, etc. have all been great.
10/05/09
[quote]
So what passes here, should be successful anywhere.
[/quote]
There isn't a single car I can think of that has been developed for the US market and is popular over here in Western-Europe (in 2009). There have been some examples in the past (Cherokee, Chrysler/Dodge Voyager come to mind), but now: none. I might be forgetting about a model or two, and some US cars sell in modest numbers, but still.
I don't think your claim holds up. The cars the US excels in are (to an European) ALL cheap plastic "big barge, gas guzzler thing"s, so they don't sell.
10/05/09
Ford is probably the best example of developing cars overseas, for overseas. they just haven't figured out a way to make it cost effective to get them here, until now. The Focus, C-Max and MAYBE Transit are examples. Holden could be successful here, if I'm not mistaken.
10/05/09
It's the same in other continents/countries. How successful are non-Japanese manufacturers in Japan? In the European market only European brands (incl. Opel and Euro-Ford) are traditionally succesful, plus the Japanese (since the seventies-eighties, like in the US) and recently the Koreans. All with cars designed specifically for the Euro market. Lexus tried to 'invade' with US models, and failed. Cadillac tried recently, and failed even harder. Infinity wants to try, but will fail too.
What I'm trying to say is: as a manufacturer you have to listen to your costumers. And costumers vary greatly between continents (and countries). You can't say US consumers are more critical for dismissing that POS Yugo, because it failed everywhere in the west. The Saturn Astra failed in the US because it wasn't what Americans want, Cadillac failed in Europe because it didn't offer what Europeans want.
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So yeah, I think Ford's incompetence caught up with them conveniently early. They're doing great things now, but they did awful things for some time before.
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