Ford announced this change of course last week. They are going to concentrate on pickup trucks, SUVs, crossovers and similar stuff. They will keep making Mustangs and one new sedan design. But Fiesta, Focus, Taurus, and a couple of other econoboxes will be dropped.
Ford didn't give reasons for their plan. At a guess, they like the higher margin in pickups and SUVs as opposed to the close to zero margins in the little econoboxes. At the time, I thought it was short sighted to abandon the bulk of the car market to the Japanese. I think the big boys, Ford, GM, and Chrysler/Fiat need to compete head on for a share of the biggest part of the car market. Driving to work, or anywhere, the bulk of the vehicles I see on the road in my part of the USA are little econoboxes. There may be be much margin in econoboxes, but there is real volume.
Now this week some new info comes to light. According to the Wall St Journal, both Honda and Toyota are having trouble moving their Accords and Camrys, despite new redesigns on both models, and excellent reputations going back many years. And on Saturday, an article speculating that the sedan as a product is going away for ever, just like the station wagon did.
Hmm. Maybe Ford is onto something?
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