Fields Says Ford is Hurrying Up Product

[MOOSTOPHA]

Ford Motor Co. president of the Americas Mark Fields says that the automaker may, in the next month, reveal more of the struggling company's future product plan as it readies an announcement of moving some products up so they arrive in dealerships sooner than planned.

Fields, who was in Traverse City to address the Center for Automotive Research's annual Management Seminar, said that there is a perception that Ford is lagging the competition in the next four years. "We don't think those estimates are accurate," referring to "certain analyst reports." Ford has been privately beefing about a recent research report by Merrill Lynch's John Murphy, which said that Ford will lag the industry average for showroom turnover in the next four years.

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[61695]

They're scared pure and simple. How this will affect inital quality will be another question altogether.

[igor]

Fields took over Ford NA in dire situation.. the pipeline was full .. but was full of crap... and failed to adress the 2 biggest problems in Ford lineup: Crown Vic and Ranger.

There is nothing else that can be done to the pipeline than to 1) cancel the rubbish and 2) speed up the rest.

I do not see the GMT900 having poor quality because o their early introduction - I do not see Ford being any different.

Igor

[JVal14]

Originally Posted by igor

Fields took over Ford NA in dire situation.. the pipeline was full .. but was full of crap... and failed to adress the 2 biggest problems in Ford lineup: Crown Vic and Ranger.

There is nothing else that can be done to the pipeline than to 1) cancel the rubbish and 2) speed up the rest.

I do not see the GMT900 having poor quality because o their early introduction - I do not see Ford being any different.

Igor

Give the man a prize, he nailed it. How can you claim Bold Moves when you have two of the oldest vehicles in the market place? I would argue that the Ranger is a vital part to Ford's survival; with a competitive mid-sized truck, they could have caught some of the shoppers that won't be buying an F-150. The Crown Vic is important mostly because it would serve as the basis for the Mercury and Lincoln flagships. Both brands look foolish with their full-sized sedans dating back to the early 90s.

[Xenon]

Originally Posted by igor

Fields took over Ford NA in dire situation.. the pipeline was full .. but was full of crap... and failed to adress the 2 biggest problems in Ford lineup: Crown Vic and Ranger.

There is nothing else that can be done to the pipeline than to 1) cancel the rubbish and 2) speed up the rest.

I do not see the GMT900 having poor quality because o their early introduction - I do not see Ford being any different.

Igor

You forgot the Focus too.

[XCR440SP]

Originally Posted by JVal14

Give the man a prize, he nailed it. How can you claim Bold Moves when you have two of the oldest vehicles in the market place? I would argue that the Ranger is a vital part to Ford's survival; with a competitive mid-sized truck, they could have caught some of the shoppers that won't be buying an F-150. The Crown Vic is important mostly because it would serve as the basis for the Mercury and Lincoln flagships. Both brands look foolish with their full-sized sedans dating back to the early 90s.

I disagree. Colorado is a great new entry, but isn't selling well and requires incentives simmilar to Ranger. If Ford can get the same price out of a 23 year old design as GM's newcomer, what incentive is there to redo the Ranger? I can see abandoning this segment, or going a different way than everyone else and bringing in (importing) a true compact pickup (like the one available in Mexico, front wheel drive, cheap and fuel efficient)

I also disagree on Crown Vic. I feel that Five Hundred replace's the Crown for a retail Large sized car. However, I think Ford is smart to continue to offer the Crown for Police cars and Taxis and other fleet use. The fleets also like things to not change making maintence and repairs cheaper and easier. I think Ford would be smart to make the Crown a Fleet only vehicle to end the complaining about its age.

Ford needs to look at what the consumer wants and redo a lot of products and scrap other (mini-vans) Fusion seems to be Ford's first mainstream hit, but I don't know if Edge and the others will match its success. Focus needs drastic updateing to improve fuel economy and make it look different. I feel it drives fine, but needs drastic freshing, hopefull the spring redo will accomplish this, but I'm not counting on it.

[igor]

Originally Posted by Xenon

You forgot the Focus too.

The 2008 Focus redesign was in place before Fields came in. It is actually a good redesign, as you can see in my thread on it (titled: "Info on 2008 Focus")

What Fields did, however, is enroll Ford NA onto the Global C2 platform development - so in 2010 MY we will have an ll new Focus on a global platform.

There is still no clear plan for CVand Ranger - but worse yet, there WAS no clear plan for these cars - Fields is new - he needs time to sort priorities, and only then can he focus on marginal models like those two ... but the fact that there were no significant changes / all new models in the pipeline for the Ranger and CV is unacceptable failure of the previous management.

Igor

[JVal14]

Originally Posted by XCR440SP

I disagree. Colorado is a great new entry, but isn't selling well and requires incentives simmilar to Ranger. If Ford can get the same price out of a 23 year old design as GM's newcomer, what incentive is there to redo the Ranger? I can see abandoning this segment, or going a different way than everyone else and bringing in (importing) a true compact pickup (like the one available in Mexico, front wheel drive, cheap and fuel efficient)

I also disagree on Crown Vic. I feel that Five Hundred replace's the Crown for a retail Large sized car. However, I think Ford is smart to continue to offer the Crown for Police cars and Taxis and other fleet use. The fleets also like things to not change making maintence and repairs cheaper and easier. I think Ford would be smart to make the Crown a Fleet only vehicle to end the complaining about its age.

Ford needs to look at what the consumer wants and redo a lot of products and scrap other (mini-vans) Fusion seems to be Ford's first mainstream hit, but I don't know if Edge and the others will match its success. Focus needs drastic updateing to improve fuel economy and make it look different. I feel it drives fine, but needs drastic freshing, hopefull the spring redo will accomplish this, but I'm not counting on it.

I know what you mean about the Colorado, but it and the Canyon were not great offerings to begin with, and couldn't compete with the Japanese on most levels. The Ranger can't either, and will get it's lunch eaten if they don't change things. I think going smaller would chase away people that would like to have an F-150; they'll still want something roomy that can haul stuff. I say: why not do both?

You're right about the Crown Vic in that they make money off the fleet sales, but eventually Police Departments will say enough is enough and go for the Dodge Charger. A competitive new full-sized sedan would give them the fleet sales and they would actually sell some to normal consumers. As evident by the Charger and 300, there is still a place for full-sized RWD sedans. Even continuing teh current model as fleet only - as you said - would be a solid business case.

If nothing else, Ford needs to upgrade it's image, and that's tough if you're products are considered ancient by the media and costumers.

[asim]

They better, but the cars and trucks still better be great vehicles.

[PocoToro]

Originally Posted by 61695

How this will affect inital quality will be another question altogether.

Good Question. I'm driving a Chevy SSR. This truck was engineered on a shoe string with a overly tight time frame. I LOVE MY SSR just the same; but some days it seems a little too British.

[regfootball]

Ford needs to be pumping its $$ into refinign what they have. Mustang, 500, Fusion, Edge, Focus, Freestyle. Making special editions and performance versions and redoing interiors to be top notch and fashion friendly. Keep the product they have as fresh as possible while sucrrying to get new stuff ready. They should have ordered an interior redo and new powertrain for the Freestar, and renamed it so they wouldn't have to kill it.

that would help in the short term. and get all the cab/cop sales on the CV they can.

[Hugh Jass]

The Ranger may be seriously ready for an update, but I would put it up against the Colorado anyday. The Colorado suffers from serious ugliness, and I see they carried that over to the new Silverado as well. Is this what GM fans have been waiting for all theses years to compete with the F-series, especially since Ford is updating it extensively soon? And what is with GM and their dashboards? You can't tell the difference between a truck to the Impala? Oh, and I don't see Tahoe as a slam dunk king of SUV's after reading all the specs on the Expedition. Sure, you can get a bigger motor with more torque (it's only advantage to the Expedition), but how many will considering the price of gas? How about very few.

[DanCBJMS1988]

Originally Posted by igor

Fields took over Ford NA in dire situation.. the pipeline was full .. but was full of crap... and failed to adress the 2 biggest problems in Ford lineup: Crown Vic and Ranger.

There is nothing else that can be done to the pipeline than to 1) cancel the rubbish and 2) speed up the rest.

I do not see the GMT900 having poor quality because o their early introduction - I do not see Ford being any different.

Igor

Ford-Europe also had some problems - until the new Ranger, their Ranger was very ancient. The Transit/Tourneo and Transit Connect/Tourneo Connect finally looks a little bit better for LCVs/people movers than the versions they replaced. The Galaxy was originally shared with the VW Sharan/SEAT Alhambra - now it's WAY much better than the Sharan/Alhambra. The Fusion is probably still a thorn in the side for Ford-Europe, though in other markets the Fusion's SUVish EcoSport counterpart is selling well. I don't know about sales, but I'm assuming Ford is taking a beating because of the Japanese, but is fighting to the finish.

[igor]

Originally Posted by DanCBJMS1988

Ford-Europe also had some problems - until the new Ranger, their Ranger was very ancient. The Transit/Tourneo and Transit Connect/Tourneo Connect finally looks a little bit better for LCVs/people movers than the versions they replaced. The Galaxy was originally shared with the VW Sharan/SEAT Alhambra - now it's WAY much better than the Sharan/Alhambra. The Fusion is probably still a thorn in the side for Ford-Europe, though in other markets the Fusion's SUVish EcoSport counterpart is selling well. I don't know about sales, but I'm assuming Ford is taking a beating because of the Japanese, but is fighting to the finish.

That is good insight into Ford of Europe (Ford OE), but (unfortunately) I failt to see how it relates to the Ford NA (North America) pipeline and products.

Ford OE has improved dramatically, along with Ford AU (Australia), Ford LA (Latin America), Ford Asia, Mazda, Volvo, Land Rover, and Aston Martin.

All this happened under Bill Ford as CEO. However Ford NA (and Jaguar) are still in trouble, and Fields is working hard to fix it.. However with such a dismal pipeline when he took over the division, he has very few options open for short term fixes ... But I believe he is doing a great job so far, and if he does not sway from his plans and convictions, Ford NA will catch up to GM's restructuring by the end of the decade ...

Igor

[HoosierRon]

I would start a new thread if I could, but I can't, so this seems like the closest thread.

Has anyone been over to www.blueovalforums.com lately? Man, what a bunch of downers. Things are ugly over there. It really is a contrast with GMI, where there is genuine excitement about GM's future.