ford has a new plan

First Ford is my current GT350. May be my last Ford if they don't make specialty models.

The Explorer is nice but the Pilot owns that segment due to Honda quality, resale and value for the dollar.

Cost cutting can make sense. However, I agree with the statements above that imply innovation cannot go away if you want your company to be great in the future.

I have this suspicion that car companies want to go electric because they think those cars will be cheaper to make but that they can continue to charge as much or more money. Also, gas engines last too long, but batteries are not so dependable and the technology behind batteries is rapidly improving. Electrics might be a way for car companies to show improvements YOY and get some people to keep trading in for new all the time.

Cars are really great right now. Who knows, I might never buy another new car. I was driving hot rodded 80s Mustangs daily until 2011 when I finally realized that the car companies were making better stuff than I could. I just might be happy getting by with used stuff from the twenty-teens for the rest of my life. I'm almost 50 now - I believe many of the cars on the road right now will last a really long time. Not the Priuses, but many of the gas powered cars are plenty capable and there's no reason someone couldn't get by driving one of them many, many years into the future. If the future stuff makes more power, there's no reason a GT350 couldn't be upgraded to match.

SolidZebra said:

We are in a golden age of horsepower and performance...the best since the late 60’s & early 70’s. The nature of cars will change drastically in coming years...so if you like large displacement naturally-aspirated high performance vehicles with wailing exhausts, seize the day!

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I’m thinking of the Mustang II....

HizliBullet said:

we laughed at prius for many years, now we're gonna be the next one

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What do you mean by we....:lol:

Since the terminator days of 2003 Ford has produced some awesome mustangs. We have enough to keep us happy if they decide to cut back performance choices. There’s always cars like the C8 that will keep me happy for years to come. I lived through the 80’s and 90’s and got my kicks with the 60’s cars to satisfy my addiction to sound and speed. Looks like another cycle of cars coming. I think the 30/40 year olds will suffer like I did back in the 80’s and 90’s. I already picked up a ( $21K) low 1900 mile 07 SGT #0016 signed on the hood by Shelby himself. Back in 2007 we had more choices in performance mustangs both on and off the track then today. FR500C,FR500S and FR500GT3.SGT, KR and SS. Today only the MustangGT4. A handful of mustangs out of Shelby American. The mustang challenge lasted 3 years. You can see the shift happening.
I remember when Ford stock back in 2009 was $1 .....Yes $1 dollar. Ford turned that around without cutting out performance cars. But it still takes involvement from top executives @ Ford Performance with Racing in their vains. Top executives within mustang and SVT or whatever their name is. Without their passion the new CEO will only see numbers that reflect return on investment. Furniture sales isn’t something to get excited about.

SolidZebra said:

We are in a golden age of horsepower and performance...the best since the late 60’s & early 70’s. The nature of cars will change drastically in coming years...so if you like large displacement naturally-aspirated high performance vehicles with wailing exhausts, seize the day!

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exactly why I'm holding onto my 392 and this R

With all due respect I certainly am somewhat surprised at some of the comments posted by some individuals who certainly seem to be loyal and have enjoyed numerous HP models coming out of Ford.

Having been fortunate to have lived through and owned a Mustang from all 6 generations and have watched the ups and down of the Mustang and the Ford Motor Company over many years (mostly ups compared to GM and Chrysler) I have a hard time imagining Ford Performance and future Ford performance vehicles going away or being eliminated.

Based on the long history of the Ford Motor Company which has been centered around high performance cars such as the Ford GT, AC Cobra, GT350/GT500, Boss 302/Boss 351 etc. for ~6 decades do you really think that Jim Hackett who previously was a CEO for a furniture company based in Grand Rapids is going to dictate to the Ford family and many other long term executives that Ford Performance days are numbered and that all future high performance models will be eliminated from Ford, not a chance.

Will Ford cut back on certain areas pertaining to their high performance vehicles such as the Track Attack, owners kits, HPDE, Ford Performance hotline, etc. probably so but their high performance cars will still be produced for quite some time.

Can you imagine the impact on people like Jack Roush, Gary Patterson or Steve Saleen just to name just a few if Ford dropped the Mustang or moved away from producing high performance vehicles.

From a profitability standpoint do you really think that Ford lost money on the ~50,000 GT500 and ~8,300 Boss 302 cars built in recent years let alone all of the after market parts that they sold for these great cars.

The long standing production of high performance vehicles coming out of Ford has been profitable over many decades with the odd exception (Boss 429) let alone the outstanding heritage and history that the Ford family has created for all of us enthusiasts.

Regardless of what ever direction Ford takes I cannot put a price of the many years of enjoyment that they have created for me and many of my car buddies and I will always be thankful for the many years of high performance enjoyment that they have given me and will never move away from supporting the Ford Motor Company.

Lastly, it will be very interesting to see if and when Mr. Hackett takes on the Ford family and the many long standing executives in Dearborn with respect to the future of Ford Performance and all of their HP vehicles?

I wish him lots of luck!

:ford:

The mid-engine Corvette is going to be hard to pass up if the price is right, so if they expect to compete at the higher end (selling GT350's in the $60K+ range, R's at $75K+ range) they need to keep up with R&D. Otherwise, we're back to the Mustang GT's and cars I'm not interested in.

Eh people are over-reacting. GM is doing the same thing, does anyone seriously think performance vehicles are going to disappear?

rick81721 said:

Eh people are over-reacting. GM is doing the same thing, does anyone seriously think performance vehicles are going to disappear?

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Tomorrow? no. Eventually? As soon as they have self driving cars as the norm - we'll be restricted to race tracks for manual control of high performance cars. The insurance liability will be too high. Get in a wreck with a manually controlled high performance vehicle and you're suddenly willfully negligent.

The current electric vehicle trend is a big step in that direction. As are the insurance companies with the voluntary snitch devices to "get a discount". Sooner than later the manufacturers will be mandated to provide that data without the devices and - nobody is going to want to drive a performance vehicle on the road then... so it makes sense, to me, that manufacturers would start to care less about the performance category after this current boom of HP vehicles.

New managers come in and make a statement to put their mark on the organization. None of this is at all surprising. However, you can only help a company so far by cutting costs. You must do something to grow the top line. You must work both sides of that equation to really grow a company. FP is a key part of that and I do not see that going away. Some are a bit fatalistic here. Change comes much more slowly than you expect. FWIW :ford:

One can only speculate on the future but it is conceivable that high performance vehicles at some point may not be internal combustion based. And with the advent of self driving vehicles with set speeds controlled by external/road side input, you are going to stick out like a sore thumb driving an HP vehicle on the same roads. So I can imagine a day when they are confined to track use only, sad to say.

Whatever the future holds, Ford will compete in that market.

tdzee said:

New managers come in and make a statement to put their mark on the organization. None of this is at all surprising. However, you can only help a company so far by cutting costs. You must do something to grow the top line. You must work both sides of that equation to really grow a company. FP is a key part of that and I do not see that going away. Some are a bit fatalistic here. Change comes much more slowly than you expect. FWIW :ford:

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I would suggest that Mark Fields was a well respected individual within the Ford organization prior to his sudden departure but to your point I think if he missed the mark in one area it was growing the top line with missed business opportunities in China and India.

As you mentioned cost cutting measures can only go so far and at some point increasing gross revenues becomes paramount.

With no disrespect to Jim Hackett but with him coming from a $3 Billion dollar furniture company to a $150 Billion automotive giant this is a big step for anyone and I hope that he can pull off what all of the shareholders and BOD's at Ford are looking for!

Hack said:

.......I have this suspicion that car companies want to go electric because they think those cars will be cheaper to make but that they can continue to charge as much or more money. Also, gas engines last too long, but batteries are not so dependable and the technology behind batteries is rapidly improving. Electrics might be a way for car companies to show improvements YOY and get some people to keep trading in for new all the time......

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I was curious about a used electric focus the other day, until I saw what a battery pack costs ($19,836). Compare that to the Voodoo engine at ~ $16,000!

https://parts.autonationfordwhitebe...mb2N1cyZ5PTIwMTUmdD1lbGVjdHJpYyZlPWVsZWN0cmlj

https://parts.autonationfordwhitebe...yMDE2JnQ9c2hlbGJ5LWd0MzUwJmU9NS0ybC12OC1nYXM=

Uber will be automated/driverless in the near future and the drivers are funding that technology for them. The side hustle" will be non existent.