Ford Ditching Cars For SUV's Has Cost Them Loyal Customers

[Tseg]

I look at that picture of the blue Focus and see a 2028 Mustang.

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[Rapid Red]

I look at that picture of the blue Focus and see a 2028 Mustang.

Good to know, my 2 door coupe just doubled in value. ..



Pep

 

[oneheadlite]

I imagine Ford took this very thing into consideration before they took
this step.
They've been in business a long time.
Besides, car manufacturers aren't noted for doing smart things.

My younger Brother went to buy a new Stepside 4x4 Ranger in 2005.
The salesman asked the SM why he couldn't find any reference to them.
The SM said, 'oh, Ford quit making them.'

The salesman asks the SM why Ford would quit making the most popular
truck that Ford makes?

 

[Bear376]

The problem Ford had with the Ranger was it was a lot like many of the small cars today. Low domestic demand because it was designed for the overseas market. The NA market is not the way the rest of the world buys cars. And the new Ranger then was so close in size to the F150 that they feared losing F150 sales and not gaining enough Ranger sales to make it work. Since then, the F150 has gotten even bigger, so Ranger makes more sense now. I think Ford is getting ready for a possible big leap in battery storage technology that will create totally new chassis development and they will design cars that will work with that. If there is enough demand, cars will return to the lineup.

 

[EcoVert]

A lot of people may not remember the last Ranger all though updated and refreshed was a product of the early 1990's it needed replaced. Ford thought it could convert Ranger sales to F150 much like they (Ford) think they can convert car buys to SUV's . Didn't work then and it's not going to work now.

 

[Big Boss]

Agreed ^

My sister in law absolutely despises SUVs. She is one of the few that hates sitting higher up in a bigger wider vehicle. If there are no cars from Ford when she looks to get a new car she will look elsewhere.

 

[Hack]

I imagine Ford took this very thing into consideration before they took
this step.
They've been in business a long time.
Besides, car manufacturers aren't noted for doing smart things.

My younger Brother went to buy a new Stepside 4x4 Ranger in 2005.
The salesman asked the SM why he couldn't find any reference to them.
The SM said, 'oh, Ford quit making them.'

The salesman asks the SM why Ford would quit making the most popular
truck that Ford makes?

My guess is that a big part of the issue was that the UNION employees in the St. Paul Minnesota Ford Plant made a lot of money and also had agreements with Ford that would make it difficult or expensive for Ford to move the Ranger production to a different location. So, the Ranger was costing Ford too much money and they weren't making as much as they wanted to on it.

So they took a long range view and got out of the bad contract by shutting down the Ranger production completely. Too bad, as IMO it was cool having a Ford plant here in town. But the people assembling Rangers were making a lot of money and the plant is in the middle of town on very expensive real estate.

Just another example of the impact that collective bargaining can have on a company and on the public. I always liked the Ranger too and I was sad to see Ford stop making it.

 

[Bikeman315]

Agreed ^

My sister in law absolutely despises SUVs. She is one of the few that hates sitting higher up in a bigger wider vehicle. If there are no cars from Ford when she looks to get a new car she will look elsewhere.

Easy solution.......

Mustang!!!

 

[Strokerswild]

My guess is that a big part of the issue was that the UNION employees in the St. Paul Minnesota Ford Plant made a lot of money and also had agreements with Ford that would make it difficult or expensive for Ford to move the Ranger production to a different location. So, the Ranger was costing Ford too much money and they weren't making as much as they wanted to on it.

So they took a long range view and got out of the bad contract by shutting down the Ranger production completely. Too bad, as IMO it was cool having a Ford plant here in town. But the people assembling Rangers were making a lot of money and the plant is in the middle of town on very expensive real estate.

Just another example of the impact that collective bargaining can have on a company and on the public. I always liked the Ranger too and I was sad to see Ford stop making it.

Yep.

I toured the St. Paul plant back in the late 1980s, and it stands out as one of the most impressive industrial tours I've been on to date.

 

[Hack]

Yep.

I toured the St. Paul plant back in the late 1980s, and it stands out as one of the most impressive industrial tours I've been on to date.

I went on a tour there as well and thought it was awesome.

I knew a guy who worked on the assembly line and he was making good money at the time. He could also choose to do the most basic jobs (his example was picking up cardboard) rather than being required to earn his high pay by doing one of the more difficult assembly tasks. Didn't seem right to me, but he must have loved it.

I always enjoyed going to the Ford car show that they would hold in the parking lot every spring as well.

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