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Unlike Ford CUV/SUV trucks, they have been lazy about making compelling sedans and updating sedans. Sedans were still 17.5% (101k) of Ford sales for the 1st Q of 2018. Sedans are forecast to remain around 27% for the near future in the US. This move will only lower customer visits at the dealerships and reduce SUV/CUV/truck sales as there will be less reasons to visit Ford stores. Lots of those Escape/Edge sales start out as Focus/Fusion sales. Ford has a profitability problem and it is due to waste in the plants. They should deal with that and then see if they really need to dump 17.5% of their unit sales. Maybe by closing the sedan plants Ford can reset union contracts in those plants? Maybe this is the real reason for dumping the sedans.
The UAW “rules” can be restrictive but would not even make the top 10 reasons on why Ford is cutting cars. This has absolutely nothing to do with that decision.
I also take issue with the notion that Ford was lazy about making the cars. Clearly you don’t work there....they put a lot of money into the latest gen Fiesta/Focus/Fusion but they just can’t make enough profit in those segments to justify future programs. (Primarily due to material cost being too high. The US automakers have a severe disadvantage when it comes to component costs and this is the #1 problem they have, their supply base.)
Lastly, you don’t need cars to have a successful brand. Jeep is one example of that....
With sport utility vehicles taking over American roads, passenger cars are in rapid decline. Sales of sedans, coupes and sports cars are on pace for their worst year since 2009, the year when industrywide new-vehicle deliveries plunged to a three-decade low and GM and Chrysler went through bankruptcy.
U.S. passenger car sales fell to a low of 5.4 million in 2009 before bouncing back to 7.6 million by 2014, according to data from Erich Merkle, Ford Motor Co.’s U.S. sales analyst. Since then, though, deliveries have dropped back to 6.1 million in 2017 and are on pace this year to finish around 5.4 million again. SUVs first supplanted cars in 2016 and are on track to reach a record 8.3 million this year.
Car Collapse As U.S. SUV sales soar, passenger cars head toward recessionary levels
Automakers are adjusting their lineups accordingly. Ford expects only about 10 percent of its North American vehicles will be cars by 2020. Merkle said he expects the sales trend to continue as long as baby boomers continue to prefer small SUVs over cars and as millennials move to the suburbs to start families.
“Those are the two biggest demographics shifting vehicle segment sales, and they both continue to prefer the larger cars as they age,” Merkle said. “Additionally, the issues that kept people from buying SUVs in the past have largely been removed. They have much better fuel economy, and they handle and ride better than they ever have.”
The UAW “rules” can be restrictive but would not even make the top 10 reasons on why Ford is cutting cars. This has absolutely nothing to do with that decision.
I also take issue with the notion that Ford was lazy about making the cars. Clearly you don’t work there....they put a lot of money into the latest gen Fiesta/Focus/Fusion but they just can’t make enough profit in those segments to justify future programs. (Primarily due to material cost being too high. The US automakers have a severe disadvantage when it comes to component costs and this is the #1 problem they have, their supply base.)
Lastly, you don’t need cars to have a successful brand. Jeep is one example of that....
I would be more convinced by your example if Jeep were actually able to stand on its own as a brand, like Volkswagen, Subaru, Toyota, Nissan, or Hyundai.
I would be more convinced by your example if Jeep were actually able to stand on its own as a brand, like Volkswagen, Subaru, Toyota, Nissan, or Hyundai.
Volkswagen is part of a larger group that includes, Skoda, Seat, VW, Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini. Subaru partners with Toyota, and is part of a larger company, Fuji Heavy Industries. Nissan is wholly owned by Renault. And Hyundai is also part of larger industrial group which also includes Kia.
Jeep is the ONLY part of FCA that could stand on it's own and is the only part of the company that anybody wants (they were the reason Chrysler bought AMC, and the reason Daimler, then Cerberus, then Fiat, bought Chrysler.)
It’s all about profit there is more profit in a SUV and pickups and it’s not Ford’s fault that their cars are not selling simple fact no matter what you do to a car it’s still a car and no one wants a car no more. Ford knows the market better than we do my god it’s their business they know what people want and cars are not it. Hell Chrysler is also getting rid of some cars along with GM it’s all about profit and the American automakers are loseing money on cars that are sitting on dealer lots. And the Taurus is not a huge car it’s a midsize there are no huge cars no more all midsize. The old Lincoln town car was a huge car as was the Crown Victoria. Face it cars are not selling in the USA like they once did. They are not going to bring back the old land yachts so you can put that notion to rest.
Perhaps, but when it comes to car sales, while American cars are not selling, as other posters have pointed out, Honda, Toyota and others are still turning a significant profit selling cars.
So no matter how you try to spin it, the uncomfortable truth is most consumers don't view American cars as equal to German, Japanese, and Korean cars and, subsequently, those automakers are dominating car sales.
Perhaps, but when it comes to car sales, while American cars are not selling, as other posters have pointed out, Honda, Toyota and others are still turning a significant profit selling cars.
So no matter how you try to spin it, the uncomfortable truth is most consumers don't view American cars as equal to German, Japanese, and Korean cars and, subsequently, those automakers are dominating car sales.
Volkswagen is part of a larger group that includes, Skoda, Seat, VW, Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini. Subaru partners with Toyota, and is part of a larger company, Fuji Heavy Industries. Nissan is wholly owned by Renault. And Hyundai is also part of larger industrial group which also includes Kia.
Jeep is the ONLY part of FCA that could stand on it's own and is the only part of the company that anybody wants (they were the reason Chrysler bought AMC, and the reason Daimler, then Cerberus, then Fiat, bought Chrysler.)
Volkswagen is the entity that owns all of the other automakers that comprise the Volkswagen Group, which is why Volkswagen can stand on its own.
Subaru, Nissan, and Kia may belong to larger entities but they are much more recognized as independent, standalone brands than Lincoln or any of the GM divisions like Cadillac or Buick. In fact, Subaru has been so successful that Fuji Heavy Industries now falls under the "Subaru Corporation" moniker.
Jeep does not stand on its own because it's not profitable enough to support itself, that's why they have "partnered" with (read: been owned by) several other bigger companies since 1970 and are currently part of FCA.
So here is a question I’ve often wondered. Why does Ford get bashed for not selling cars, but there is nobody bashing Honda for not making any (real) trucks? Both Ford and Honda make plenty of SUV’s so that’s a wash.
Honda has basically made the exact same decision as Ford but in reverse. Where is the public outcry to see those Honda full size pickups and commercial vehicles?
At least Ford is making some crossovers (EcoSport, Focus Active, etc.) to cover those lower end price points, while Honda has absolutely nothing to cover the truck space.
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