Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: xrtoronto on August 18, 2006, 10:18:50 AM
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Ford Motor Co. said Friday it will slash its North American vehicle production by 21 per cent in the fourth quarter in a move that will affect thousands of workers.
The automaker plans to build 168,000 fewer units than it did in the same quarter a year ago. The revised plan also reduces the company's previously announced third-quarter plan by 20,000 units.
For all of 2006, Ford plans to produce about nine per cent fewer vehicles than in 2005.
"We know this decision will have a dramatic impact on our employees, as well as our suppliers," Ford chairman and CEO Bill Ford said in a note to employees. "This is, however, the right call for our customers, our dealers and our long-term future."
Ford said full details of additional actions will be announced in September.
The company said the production reduction will result in downtime at several assembly plants between now and the end of the year, including its plant in St. Thomas, Ont., where the Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis are produced.
The company will also take downtime at nine plants in the United States.
Ford said its Oakville, Ont., plant — the home of the Ford Edge, the Lincoln MKX and the Ford Freestar — will run on regular time or overtime based on consumer demand. Six plants in the United States and Mexico will also run on regular production.
In July, Ford reported a second-quarter loss of $123 million US due to the cost of cutting workers, and signalled that more restructuring was coming.
The company said its revenues slipped to $41.97 billion US from $44.55 billion US year-over-year.
Ford's North American operations reported a pre-tax loss of $797 million.
c&p (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2006/08/18/ford-productioncuts.html)
Looks pretty severe! Gonna cause some hardship to lots of people both sides of the border.
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What a surprise... the number one SUV seller on the planet is feeling the effect of increased gas prices.
They better get used to it and start looking for alternatives to 6,000 pound yuppie shopping carts.
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Ford's problem runs a lot deeper than high gas prices & slowing SUV sales. Poor management of the company for years & a stranglehold by the labor unions. Hopefully government doesn't use my tax dollars to help keep the manufacturers afloat.
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Sandy,
The article didn't mention shutting down any SUV production. All it said was they were closing some plants or slowing them down in the US and Canada. Notice the CHEAP labor area (Mexico) is running at full production in spite of the shiping costs involved.
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Not quite SUV's but the bigger vehicles will be slowed....
Ford (NYSE: F) said the reduction will result in down time at several assembly plants between now and the end of the year, including the F-Series truck plant in Kansas City.
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sandie... don't you drive a 5,000 pound suv?
lazs
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Originally posted by lazs2
sandie... don't you drive a 5,000 pound suv?
lazs
It's more like 4750, but yes.
I may sound like a bit of a hypocrite, but I bought this vehicle because it was four-wheel drive, has good clearance for getting off-road, and I can fit lots of stuff in it. For me, it's a recreational vehicle and not just a large heavily armored car.
I'd be hard pressed to find some actual statistics, but I believe that the vast majority of SUVs in this country never leave the pavement.
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a bit of a hypocrite? because you flatten some nature once in a while it's not about you?
I believe that a lot of SUV owners have some pretty good reasons why they should be exempted from your scorn too.... lots of em aren't even 4 wheel drive... they just need a big station wagon... some of em live in snow country where they can use 4 wheel drive 3 or four months a year...
some enjoy camping or boating and need to take a large family..
I don't like the things... I don't like yours or your reason for owning it but...
none of my business.
lazs
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Originally posted by lazs2
a bit of a hypocrite? because you flatten some nature once in a while it's not about you?
I stick to the trails. :)
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Originally posted by Sandman
It's more like 4750, but yes.
I may sound like a bit of a hypocrite, but I bought this vehicle because it was four-wheel drive, has good clearance for getting off-road, and I can fit lots of stuff in it. For me, it's a recreational vehicle and not just a large heavily armored car.
I'd be hard pressed to find some actual statistics, but I believe that the vast majority of SUVs in this country never leave the pavement.
Our family business owns what you may call a SUV. The entire family borrowes it for fishing trips, in the mountains (not me) hauling stuff and ofcourse delivering heavy stuff for the business.. This way nobody else in the entire clan needs a suv. Its a Nissan Terrano something.
After nagging the forum here for a couple of years soon (LOL) about what car to buy for us, we are simply gonna buy my dads car. He replaces his with the same brand every two years like clock work and gets a good price for his "old" (the dealer is a friend of his). Now we buy it off him instead.
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"I r teh dummy."
What exactly do you drive?
Buicks are apparently all the rage in parts of China. Given GM's track record of screwing up every good thing they have, I wonder how long it'll be before they derail that success.
Ford can build good cars, but their engines are horrible and their designers must be on drugs. Not many people want a smurfy car with a lousy engine. Honda and Toyota both traditionally take a fairly conservative styling approach for their midrange cars, and it pays off. These days, the US companies want to make all their cars look like they're on steroids, and it results in rolling monstrosities like the ill-fated "Aztek". Even the pickup trucks look pretty stupid now, and are often massively overpriced to boot.
J_A_B
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Nilsen,
Don't forget the other SUV that you use and put exhaust byproducts into the water with.
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Originally posted by BigGun
Ford's problem runs a lot deeper than high gas prices & slowing SUV sales. Poor management of the company for years & a stranglehold by the labor unions. Hopefully government doesn't use my tax dollars to help keep the manufacturers afloat.
Agreed.
But from what I've heard, the company is cutting production on cars with their highest profit margins. Very stupid move if it is true.
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I recently bought a car. I like supporting American companies and workers. However, I was hard pressed to find an American car that had the safety features I wanted (airbags everywhere), gas mileage I wanted (25 hwy min) and space inside.
Bought a Saturn.
I was AMAZED at the technology gap between Ford and Honda as I was comparing the Focus and the Civic. Sure the Focus is cheaper, but after adding some features that make it comparable to the Civic, it suddenly is just as expensive, if not more...
Instead of giving rebates and incentives--just make a freakin 4-cylinder engine that puts out 150 HP and gets 35 mpg. I'll buy it everytime. :rolleyes:
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Originally posted by kamilyun
I was AMAZED at the technology gap between Ford and Honda
there really is a big difference... since the snow melted this year, I've been absolutely beating the snot out of my integra (1992, 212km on motor) doing my best to pop the motor before my warranty on it runs out (extra $800 to put towards a swap). I just can't do it... redlining most of my shifts, where traffic permits, since april. If anything, it's running better. I did the same thing when I was trying to kill a 1999 sunfire with 145km on it last summer... the motor was in great shape when it was given to me (body/suspension made it a no-sell), and it lasted just over a week before I popped the head gasket.
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Originally posted by kamilyun
I was AMAZED at the technology gap between Ford and Honda
I'm not surprised
And Honda VTECH engines are simply the best in the world, you'll still see 20yr/old honda with VTECH engines still roaming around US. The only way to break the bulletproof VTECH engine is if you don't meet the maintenance schedule OR if you stuff too much aftermarket parts on the engine (forced induction upgrades, etc)
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Originally posted by eureka101
I r teh dummy.
They're better than the rusty Schwinn yer pedaling.
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My '95 coutour still gets me from A to B every time.
The only thing i dont like about it is that the one part i've had to replance, the "water pump" doesn't pump water, it pumps coolant, but whenever i say "coolant pump", some @hole corrects me...:mad: :mad: :furious :furious :mad: :mad:
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Originally posted by Maverick
Nilsen,
Don't forget the other SUV that you use and put exhaust byproducts into the water with.
That does not count. Boats are holy just like cows in india ;)
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Originally posted by 1K3
And Honda VTECH engines are simply the best in the world, you'll still see 20yr/old honda with VTECH engines still roaming around US.
I haven't seen very many 20-year-old VTECs at all roaming around. This is possibly due in part to the fact that Honda says they introduced VTEC in 1989.
As for it being the "best in the world": Each to his own, but I'll stick with an engine that makes twice the torque at half the RPM, so it actually has the guts to pull around a car that's larger than a go-kart.
Originally posted by eureka101
I r teh dummy
That sounds like a VW and possibly european gallons. If it was a VW, hopefully you sold it for something better, like an Audi.
J_A_B
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Originally posted by J_A_B
That sounds like a VW and possibly european gallons. If it was a VW, hopefully you sold it for something better, like an Audi.
J_A_B
Better in what way?
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Originally posted by J_A_B
That sounds like a VW and possibly european gallons. If it was a VW, hopefully you sold it for something better, like an Audi.
European gallons? Audi "better" than VW?
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Originally posted by kamilyun
Instead of giving rebates and incentives--just make a freakin 4-cylinder engine that puts out 150 HP and gets 35 mpg. I'll buy it everytime. :rolleyes:
But that would leave the marketing people with nothing to do.
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"European gallons?"
A US gallon is 128 fl oz.
A "european gallon" is officially called the Imperial gallon; it's a bit larger than the US gallon (an Imp. gallon is roughly 1.2 US gallons). This sometimes creates some confusion in terms of vehicle fuel economy.
The Audi/VW comment was a bit of a joke. Most longtime readers of this board should get it.
J_A_B
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Originally posted by Nilsen
That does not count. Boats are holy just like cows in india ;)
Holy boat! just doesn't sound the same. ;)
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Jab,
I got it.
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Originally posted by kamilyun
--just make a freakin 4-cylinder engine that puts out 150 HP and gets 35 mpg. I'll buy it everytime. :rolleyes:
damm, my 4cyl only makes 120 HP and only gets 32MPG, and it's a 15 year old honda made in ohio.
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Originally posted by J_A_B
"European gallons?"
A US gallon is 128 fl oz.
A "european gallon" is officially called the Imperial gallon; it's a bit larger than the US gallon (an Imp. gallon is roughly 1.2 US gallons). This sometimes creates some confusion in terms of vehicle fuel economy.
The Audi/VW comment was a bit of a joke. Most longtime readers of this board should get it.
J_A_B
Some posts were apparently deleted... Anyway no one except Brits use imperial units in europe, so the term "european gallon" is quite misleading. That consumption figure was typical for a TDi engine, so I doubt there was any confusion with the units.