- "Convert three North American assembly plants from trucks to cars"
- The Wayne, Michigan plant will switch from making Expeditions and Navigators to turning out more Foci.
- "Manufacture more fuel-efficient engines" at all factories
- Two V-8 engine plants switch to make more 4-cylinder and V-6 engines.
- produce six... European car models for the United States market"
- integrate the Mercury division in the small-car strategy [Bill Vlasic, "Ford to Make a Broader Bet on Small Cars," New York Times, 2008.07.22]
Here at home, we've already made the SUV shift. We use our 2001 Focus for almost every trip. I still love my Jeep, but it sits idle most of the time, coming out only when my wife and I are headed different directions, when Dad and I break out the trailer to haul mulch or lumber, or when the snow is flying and we've got to get to town. Even those trips we can minimize: We schedule our trips not to conflict. We get UBC to deliver lumber. And we plan ahead and get groceries before the blizzard comes. Those aren't absolute solutions, but they help to the point that we realize our next car can be even smaller.
Ford is officially announcing this mission shift Thursday, when it rolls out its surely gloomy second-quarter earnings report. Surely the intention is to give investors something (anything!) to cheer about.
And you know, a sensible production strategy that recognizes the realities of the economy and energy in the 21st century might be reason enough to buy some Ford stock, not to mention another Ford.
Update 08:55 CDT: Maybe Ford should add trains to its business plans: Amtrak reports a 28% increase in ridership and 33% increase in ticket revenue on its Downeaster line for fiscal year 2008
Ford sold the small Focus in the US as a hatchback and wagon as well as a sedan but this model year cut all but the sedan. Not too bright. Why didn't Ford and GM have a plan in place to import their own small cars from Europe in case of higher prices? Or why weren't they already being sold? GM did just start to import the Opel Astra as a Saturn, but still so out of touch with the likely event of increased gas prices as has occurred.
ReplyDeleteAnybody know the history of why South Dakota has no Amtrak passenger service? After all, North Dakota has it, so it can't just be "low population state so no federal subsidy." Serious conflicts with freight rail use or what?
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