Deal me out

"Ford losing $1,925 on every car".

The Buzz on what's it all about:

The threat is not bankruptcy. It's the lack of new products over the next two years which will push it further behind its competitors, especially Detroit foe General Motors Corp. A thin lineup of new vehicles will lead buyers elsewhere, analysts warn. And it could also affect Ford's sales network.

"The Ford loyalists will continue to buy Fords. And the people who are on the fence, won't. It's that simple," said John Wolkonowicz, an analyst at consultancy Global Insight in Lexington, Mass. The biggest immediate danger for Ford is losing dealers, which have until now been one of its major strengths...

Ford suffered a collapse in the volume of its most profitable trucks in the United States last year as buyers turned to smaller models...

Ford reported full-year losses in its Asia Pacific operations. Its Premier Automotive Group, which includes the Jaguar brand, also lost money.

The carmaker said it was profitable in Europe and South America. It said it expects total automotive results will be worse in 2007 than 2006.

Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove said the size of Ford's loss last year will make it much tougher for the union to argue for increased investment in Ford's Canadian operations...

Mark C.

Damian adds: here's a pretty good example of what's wrong with Ford. The company's new Fiesta is all set to go in Europe, and it would be a much-needed competitor in the "B-car" segment (Yaris, Fit, Rio, etc.) over here. But instead of the Fiesta, they're planning to build a variation called the "Ecosport" for the U.S. market - starting in 2010.

Mazda will happily sell Americans and Canadians a small car based on the second-generation Focus platform, the Mazda3, but Ford makes us settle for a refreshed version of the original Focus. Which was first sold in Europe in 1999. The way things are going, Ford will probably be a subsidiary of Mazda by 2010.

Posted by markc at January 27, 2007 09:47 AM