From the same management who thought commercials with rave-type DJ's playing night club music from the back tailgate of a Lincoln Blackwood, surrounded by 20-something internet bubble hipsters (just a couple years shy of buying their first gen Ipods) would sell more of the vehicles.
You know the Lincoln Blackwood: a $40K-$50K 4dr luxury truck that just had "old guy towing his boat" or "old guy driving to the country club with golf bags in the bed" or "old guy driving potted flowers, fertilizer, and mulch back to the gated McMansion community for his old lady wife to plant around the landscaping which the Mexican landscaping crew just installed" written all over it.
It did so well that they sold, what, about 2500 of the vehicles in the first two years? before killing it until it's later re-issue as the Lincoln LT.
Eh, the Think was fine for the older generation of lightweight electric cars. I actually saw one parked on the street in SF when I visited about a decade ago. Not wonderful for all situations, but fine for some. No one ever tried to make me buy one...
Think of it as a concept show car that they made several of. so it became a real world demonstrator and test bed. Not every experiment is a home run. You just have to keep taking your swings.
Ford didn't sink all that much money or effort into Think, so I don't see it doing all that much long term harm to the company. who knows, maybe there's some interesting work from the project stuffed in a filing cabinet somewhere that could come in handy down the road?
You only think I guessed wrong! That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a war with Asian car companies, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Lebanese when death is on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha...
[Nasser stops suddenly, and falls dead to his right]
"With this powerful brain of mine I get visions of the future. Oh, I am getting something now... I see... I see little gold stars, and CO.. COTD? Yes thats it and chick named Megan. This is all very strange and confusing, I need to go lay down"
Jacques Nasser: "We're sitting on a pile of cash, what should we do?"
Ford Advisor: "Well, we could buy this small Norwegian company that makes electric cars."
JN: "Great! Do it. What's next?"
FA: "We could buy Aston Martin and Land Rover."
JN: "Oooh...I always liked those. Do it. Get Volvo, too, while you're at it. What else can we do?"
FA: "Sir, I think that's enough."
JN: "Poppycock! The shareholders demand we do something!"
FA: "Well, our P/E ratio is a little low. Why don't we buy back shares. It will cost billions."
JN: "Now you're talking! What can we do to drum up some business for our warranty department?"
FA: "We could demand our suppliers cut their costs by 10% a year. Oh, and we can reduce the air pressure in the Explorer's tires. That way our friends at Firestone can make more money."
JN: "I love synergy! How is the palladium market?"
@engineerd is functionally ЯetardeD: JN: Also lets take our 2nd most recognized logo in the world off of all of our buildings at tremendous cost and replace it with Ford Motor Company written in script!
JN: Then lets spend a billion dollars developing a software package that we never implement!
03/17/09
You know the Lincoln Blackwood: a $40K-$50K 4dr luxury truck that just had "old guy towing his boat" or "old guy driving to the country club with golf bags in the bed" or "old guy driving potted flowers, fertilizer, and mulch back to the gated McMansion community for his old lady wife to plant around the landscaping which the Mexican landscaping crew just installed" written all over it.
It did so well that they sold, what, about 2500 of the vehicles in the first two years? before killing it until it's later re-issue as the Lincoln LT.
Oui, Jacque was an idjiot...
03/17/09
I remember seeing the presentation at the SF Auto Show, and even the presenter couldn't fake liking it.
If I recall correctly, the original target buyer was "Horse People" (ie, people with money who are used to luxury, but have need for a truck).
Alas, it couldn't actually tow anything, so they pretty much got an F- on that one.
03/17/09
03/17/09
03/17/09
03/17/09
03/17/09
03/17/09
Think of it as a concept show car that they made several of. so it became a real world demonstrator and test bed. Not every experiment is a home run. You just have to keep taking your swings.
Ford didn't sink all that much money or effort into Think, so I don't see it doing all that much long term harm to the company. who knows, maybe there's some interesting work from the project stuffed in a filing cabinet somewhere that could come in handy down the road?
03/17/09
03/17/09
[Nasser stops suddenly, and falls dead to his right]
03/17/09
03/17/09
(I will accept my lashings for this.)
03/17/09
03/17/09
It's Leeeeroy Nasser.
03/17/09
03/17/09
Jacques Nasser: "We're sitting on a pile of cash, what should we do?"
Ford Advisor: "Well, we could buy this small Norwegian company that makes electric cars."
JN: "Great! Do it. What's next?"
FA: "We could buy Aston Martin and Land Rover."
JN: "Oooh...I always liked those. Do it. Get Volvo, too, while you're at it. What else can we do?"
FA: "Sir, I think that's enough."
JN: "Poppycock! The shareholders demand we do something!"
FA: "Well, our P/E ratio is a little low. Why don't we buy back shares. It will cost billions."
JN: "Now you're talking! What can we do to drum up some business for our warranty department?"
FA: "We could demand our suppliers cut their costs by 10% a year. Oh, and we can reduce the air pressure in the Explorer's tires. That way our friends at Firestone can make more money."
JN: "I love synergy! How is the palladium market?"
03/17/09
JN: Then lets spend a billion dollars developing a software package that we never implement!
03/17/09
03/17/09
03/17/09
03/17/09