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Automotive News & Views What about the future of Ford Inc?? 
1858 messages, Last post on Oct 16, 2006 at 6:25 AM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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They have announced that Freestyle will end its life in two short years, although a rebadged Mercury version will remain. Sales have been good, relative to other vehicles of this type. Killing it is a bad idea. They have spent a BUNCH of money updating the Explorer for '06, to make it more like the new F-150 inside and out. It will still get sub-20 mpg in these new days of almost $3 gas. Bad thing? They have basically given up on the Ranger and thrown it away. I realize the volume sales in pick-ups is the full-size trucks, but Ranger was good for a couple hundred thousand a year just two years ago. That's meaningful sales, seems to me. Now it will run un-updated for more than a decade and then get killed entirely around MY '10. As for the little old 3.0 Duratec, they are ALMOST ready with the 3.5 supposedly, so at least they heard you on that count!  mirth: now that you mention it, I do remember them offering that explanation, although I read it as "the Euro Focus is too nice for you American consumers, who just won't ante up for nice compact cars". Perhaps it is true, but a little insulting nonetheless. People are anteing up for the Mazda3, I believe, which also gets pricey when loaded up. GM and Ford both have this attitude that small cars have to be cheap cheap cheap, or else they're just not worth the effort to bring to market. It is part of the reason their annual sales are so truck-heavy, while the Japanese make tons of profits selling cars. |
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They are redesigning the Sport Trac. Perhaps they expect that vehicle to carry the small truck banner for the brand. Surprised about the Freestyle. I hadn't heard that, either. The interior materials and engine never impressed me, but I think it's otherwise a reasonably well-sorted vehicle. |
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Freestyle is not dead yet, They have just announced a truncated model run for it, that is all. It will be gone for '07. The SportTrac is pretty big, and pretty pricey compared to other small/midsize pick-ups. Someone wanting a base model 4x2 truck, perhaps a 4-cyl no less, will be out of luck at Ford unless they take the time to order a fleet-sales, ages-old Ranger. Otherwise they will need well over $20K to buy an ST. F-150 is Ford's biggest seller. GM will redesign its full-size trucks for early next year, Toyota might get lucky with the new Tundra and siphon another 50-75K sales per year away from F-150 in Tundra's first full year. F-150 is about to take on some redesigned competition. Even the Ram is getting some updates for '06, right? Explorer and Mustang are the next two biggest sellers. Mustang's sales explosion won't last another year (just by the nature of the sport coupe breed), Explorer might get a few percentage points back from the big dip of this year, but it won't return to former sales levels I am sure. The Fusion, which started out looking like a real exciting little car, the return of great cars to the Ford line-up, has ended up being another solid entry not unlike Five Hundred. Solid yes, exciting no. Taurus will end its run early next year, and Fusion/Five HUndred will pick up the fleet sales Taurus drops, but I doubt there will be a net increase of sales among these models. There is no real plan for Mercury and Lincoln five years out, beyond rebadging some more Fords. At Ford, the business plan seems to be dig in and wait out the storm, hoping that the same ol' same ol' will save the day. The only exception to that is they have FINALLY decided to cancel the Freestar, and to go ahead with that Fairlane concept car. The future is muddy....
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Supposedly, Ford is downsizing its production capacity to reflect a 17 percent market share. Which is realistic, in view of the increased competition today from not only Japan, but Korea and a possibly resurgent GM. The only problem is that with the increased competition, Ford will probably have to run harder just to maintain a 17 percent share! As for Mercury - I look for it to be gone within five years. It needs more than rebadged Fords to really survive. The brand has fallen off most buyer's radar screens, and rebadged Fords won't be enough to revive awareness in the division. |
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| Ford is dropping the freestyle line because according to future ford plans, there will be more crossover wagons in the near future and it would only conflict with the freestyle. I saw the spy photos of new car based lincoln aviator and it looks good. There is suppose to be cheaper ford version called the edge and I wonder how it will be look. Maybe someone has a link to a spyshot? | |
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why go to the expense of developing a new crossover to replace Freestyle, which is a good model in its own right? They act like the new line-up is coming, and they have no control over it! And besides the Fairlane and a crossover shared with Mazda, what will this new line-up be? It all seems pretty vague for a company that couldn't afford to redo the Ranger, or properly update the Focus. I also wonder what will actually happen with the Excursion - first it is on, then it is off. And the Expedition? Spending a lot of money updating these truck-based gas guzzlers would be a mistake IMO. GM may prove me wrong though, with the all-new GMT900 trucks next year.
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Replying to: nippononly (Aug 16, 2005 9:31 pm) It is interesting though the ford is keeping the mercury version of freestyle intact. Didn't ford announce they would kill off the excursion and have a new stretch version of the redesign expedition. I agree with you about high gas prices that could keep the potential big truck and suv buyers away in the future. |
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| an Excursion created just by stretching out an Expedition wouldn't have a high enough GVWR to exempt it from CAFE requirements? That might be one reason for keeping the Excursion around, as is. | |
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that even though it would just be a stretched Expedition, it wouldn't be called Expedition, but rather a new name still under consideration (one option for which is, yes you guessed it, Excursion!). And that was the last I heard, quite some time ago, so there has probably been an update since then. Whether it's a brand new model or a stretch of the existing Expedition (which is due for an update, isn't it?), it is probably a waste of money unless gas drops back below $2/gallon (aint going to happen). Otherwise, just let Expedition be the biggest SUV, and don't waste a ton of money updating that model either, as its sales will also be bound to slow. norne: yeah, I thought it was interesting too, that they are going to keep the Mercury Freestyle but kill the Ford version. What does that mean, that once again Mercury will go on with rebadged Ford leftovers, while Ford gets new stuff?
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After developing a really great 7-seat crossover, the Freestyle, and then watching it steal 30% of Explorer's sales, they choose to end the Freestyle's run early, so they can redesign Explorer in the hopes it will return to its former sales glory. I am sure it will not, and 7-seat crossovers like Freestyle are where the market is headed, and I'm not alone in that assessment - most car mag editors seem to agree. The new emphasis on Explorer and even larger truck-based SUVs is a bad thing. The most recent story I heard behind the reason for stopping Freestyle production was that Ford just wasn't making enough profit on them. After using the Volvo AWD platform and the newly designed CVT which is built in Europe (I believe), the Frestyle just isn't making much profit at the current prices. By switching it to the Mercury/Lincoln name, they will be able to bring the price up and make more profits. As for those of us that have a Freestyle, I guess that's good and bad news. Bad news is that it's "kind of" going away, but good news is that the Freestyle is a great bargain at the current prices. My experience with the Freestyle? I love driving it (this coming from an RSX owner). It handles extremely well, has nice power on the highway, and the interior space utilization is great. The CVT is very smooth and is always in the right gear ratio for any given situation. Only drawback?...those few seconds between 0-10 mph when starting off from a stop. (no jack-rabbit starts in this car) I doubt a 3.5 engine would help that either because they most likely programmed the CVT to start out slow to prevent any damage to the CVT cones/chain.
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