Ford in big trouble?

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Originally Posted by double vanos
Bring back Alan Mulally.


I was a big fan of Mulally....'was' being the key word....he got Ford on the right track....didn't take a 'bailout'....but he did take a big 'golden parachute' (I think I read 18 million dollars).....Now I'm thinking that he got out when the getting was good rather than complete the 'mission'. As I've stated in the past....It's hard for the domestics to compete because of legacy costs....which obviously take cash that should be going into product development....
 
Originally Posted by pbm
Ford, 3M and GE have just teamed up to make ventilators for coronavirus treatment. Maybe Ford has a future in other than car making....



They had a hand in making radios, televisions, refrigerators and some other appliances under the Philco name. That was long ago.


Meanwhile, Toyota is building whole cities.
 
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Originally Posted by pbm
Ford, 3M and GE have just teamed up to make ventilators for coronavirus treatment. Maybe Ford has a future in other than car making....


Toilet paper! They built some crap before so should be easy. They cant survive on Truck/SUV. I wish they would make the Ford Cosworth again. I think of the Big 3,Ford is my favorite but they need to get a Ford v Ferrari mentality on EVERYTHING they build to win.
 
I hope VW doesn't stoop so low as to acquire or partner with Ford. Maybe the Chinese will buy them just to for their name. Like RCA and General Electric appliances etc..
 
Originally Posted by F_150_18
i really dont understand why the common consensus is ford isnt doing well. if you actually look at the reports the actual equity of the company has steadily been climbing. They vehicles in general are selling very well. They had that charge last year for benefits but the company still made a lot of money. The company when you look at it objectively is extremely healthy. I can only assume that the stock is more weighted to potential future earnings? Look at telsa they havent made a dime yet but their the stock price was soaring before the current events


You answered your own question: Yes on Ford for future earnings. Yes on Tesla for future earnings. Not a Tesla fanboy at all, but they did turn profitable recently, at least for a few quarters. I have been saying Tesla peaked every quarter for the last 5 years, and I keep coming up wrong. But the fall in oil prices does not seem like it would help them.
 
Ford cars over here always have very well resolved ride and compliant chassis with direct steering and overall 'good dynamics', its the fit and finish that mark them out as mid range which is a shame for cars that always feel like they were well designed and well built but then interfered with by the accountants.
Merc are the opposite, theyre a very nice place to sit but very boring to drive.
 
Originally Posted by Olas
Ford cars over here always have very well resolved ride and compliant chassis with direct steering and overall 'good dynamics', its the fit and finish that mark them out as mid range which is a shame for cars that always feel like they were well designed and well built but then interfered with by the accountants.
Merc are the opposite, theyre a very nice place to sit but very boring to drive.


Ford customer service is absolutely abysmal in the UK and unfortunately it's the dealer network that holds Ford back from being 'up-there' with the likes of VW.

I bought a brand new 2015 Ford Focus 1.5TDCi, it had a software issue which would mean the engine would bog-down like it had a blocked fuel filter when you went to accelerate. Ford absolutely couldn't care less and used to refer to it as a characteristic as opposed to a fault. A number of dealer looked at it, agreed there was an issue but as soon as they spoke to Ford technical back-peddled and said there was nothing wrong with it. It would also dump fuel into the oil at a annoying rate, if I changed the oil and left it on the max mark, in 3000miles it would be 1" above. In the end I used to just bulk-buy a mineral 15w40 HDEO and change it every 3k. At the time I was commuting 184miles to Bournemouth 4 times a week. Yet Fords excuse was always "I'm not doing enough miles". 46 times my car went back to Ford in 30 months before I got rid.

It was a shame as I had two MK3 Focuses after this as company cars and they were both fantastic. It was one of my reasons for buying the Volvo, it had the Ford chassis but with a much better dealer network.
 
Honestly I don't think it's their cars/trucks, it's the way they run their business. And I have no idea how/what is wrong with that, but their price to earnings ratio is at 151...on a five dollar stock. That means there's something seriously out of wack. Seriously.

A "cheap" stock would have a PE ratio of 8....Ford is at 152! So it's hugely overpriced even at 5 dollars a share.

I kind of like their cars/trucks, honestly, they are relatively reliable from what I've seen in the trade. Even their internal water pump in their v6's from 10 years ago...those engines were pretty reliable.

They did jump on the hybrid train too late...have they even got on yet? And they always seem to follow, rather than innovate, but you'd think that would be the safe thing in troubled times.
 
Ford lost me when they decided it was a good idea to use a Taurus chassis in a mini van. Also when you have to remove a truck cab to service a diesel pickup. My cars were Fords for many years. My last truck was a 1990 Ranger XLT. Switched to Dodge/Ram and never looked back.
 
Seems something like this would not be that difficult for Super Duty series

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Every publicly traded company or any company that uses banks for capitol has issues with management and issues with the need to make their "numbers" every month. They make poor decisions. Are not allowed to buy parts in economic quantities. Start china sourcing but refuse to keep enough stock in the USA for a supply disruption (Last I knew capitol markets are death on what they deem excess inventory). Then something like Corona hits and supply shuts down. Management without a passion for the product are brought in to appease wall street or the capitol market. Customers learn that the parts get much cheaper at the end of the month and also learn to hoard in times of trouble. This is NOT limited to only the car companies, it is an illness that affects all companies that grow above a certain size. Cough cough Boeing cough.

Rod
 
For what Mulally did, $18 million was a bargain. If you save a multi-billion dollar company, or at least put it on better footing,

But I think what he got was options for close to 18 million shares of Ford, so he got a lot more money.

Of course Ford was as low as $1.39/share and went to over $16/share during his tenure, so he bet on himself in a fashion.

Right now, at $5 something a share, Ford has a market cap of about $21 Billion.

So back in the day, when Mulally was still around, I suspect that Market Cap was up around $60 Billion.

Getting the estimated $300 million he could have (probably did) for his shares and exercising his options, it was a bargain given how much he improved the state of the company.

The numbers are big for one person. Few of us here will understand them. However, given they were in stock, it's a bet on yourself, just like an athlete that puts a lot of their contract in performance incentives to prove they are confident in themselves.

Originally Posted by pbm
Originally Posted by double vanos
Bring back Alan Mulally.


I was a big fan of Mulally....'was' being the key word....he got Ford on the right track....didn't take a 'bailout'....but he did take a big 'golden parachute' (I think I read 18 million dollars).....Now I'm thinking that he got out when the getting was good rather than complete the 'mission'. As I've stated in the past....It's hard for the domestics to compete because of legacy costs....which obviously take cash that should be going into product development....
 
I'd like to be a fly on the wall in Peugeot headquarters. Their timing of getting Fiat Chrysler couldn't have been worse.


Qu'avons-nous fait ?
 
Originally Posted by Railrust
They did jump on the hybrid train too late...have they even got on yet? And they always seem to follow, rather than innovate, but you'd think that would be the safe thing in troubled times.

?

Ford was the first domestic to produce a hybrid, hence their patent sharing with Toyota. This was in 2004.
 
Privately owned corporations have an easier way to fight the red ink. Its not do or die with them - in the same level as public companies without private ownership.

Example: #1 Art Van Furniture is now bye-bye..... big and strong, until they went public and allowed themselves to be bought-out (surrendered private ownership).
Gardner White Furniture - #2 in Michigan and private & relatively healthy under private ownership.

Ford and Gardner White will remain in business a long-long-time...... privately. In my opinion, Ford will work with Volkswagen in a Joint Operating Agreement and not in a public takeover of Ford, by the world's largest Volkswagen.
Just my opinion. There's no surrender with the Ford Family..... dating back to the Model-T.
 
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