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Detroit, 5:56 AM
Fri Dec 4
27 posts in the last 24 hours
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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.
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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?
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03/17/09
[Nasser stops suddenly, and falls dead to his right]
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03/17/09
(I will accept my lashings for this.)
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03/17/09
It's Leeeeroy Nasser.
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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!
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