I rented a Ford Focus when I was in California, that car sucked like blind guys in a slam dunk contest. A friend of mine had a Ford Focus break down on her and replaced it with a Toyota. She said she hated that car. I agree that some of the American cars don't suck, but the majority still do, and the image that they suck are stuck in people's minds. A bunch of college kids were talking about cars and they said FORD stood for Found On Road Dead Before you get all defensive, my dad drove a ford, I drove one in high school. they sucked There's a reason why their stock price sucks besides the labor issue, if you choose to say that these cars are good, then you are in the extreme minority.
Wow such huge proof that Fords are so terrible. I guess having the best selling vehicle in USA for like 23 years is another proof they suck? We bought sister-inlaw a Toyota is left her twice and it was 2007 brand new. See there are stories both ways. The bottom line is japanese cares are more expensive There is just a notion now that japanese cars are better despite the tests proving they are about a draw. If you dislike american cars just say that, but there is no proof to say they are worse.
Have you seen Ford's stock price? Consumers have chosen, also Consumer Reports has chosen too. I'm glad your Ford doesn't suck. The quality is all over the place with American cars. The Pontiac G6 is good (Rented it) while the Pontiac Sunfire sucked like fat people doing yoga. Also, what I hate when I rent American cars is that the gas cap is never consistently on the same side. on the japanese cars, they are always on the driver's side. Its different for Ford and GM. Consumers choose what's a good product and what's the bad product. try to find a zenith TV somewhere.
that is my exact point. The Ford has the best selling vehicle for 23 years in a row. Consumers chose, ford won. The stock price has nothing to do with vehicle quality or value.
That's good to know that you are sticking to your product when its close to being bankrupted. Is that Ford Called the Honda Civic? http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.co...nda-Civic-Now-America-s-Best-Selling-Vehicle/ Honda Civic Now America's Best-Selling Vehicle Posted: Jun. 04, 2008 12:06 p.m. There's a new best-selling vehicle in America, and for the first time in 17 years, it's not a pickup truck. It's a Japanese compact car that can be bought for under $20,000 and, even without its optional hybrid powertrain, squeezes over 30 miles of travel out of each gallon of $4 gas. The best-selling vehicle in the U.S. is now the Honda Civic. USA Today explains, "Not only was Ford's F-Series pickup, a longtime sales king, passed by Honda's Civic, the May leader, but also by three more cars -- Toyota's Camry and Corolla, and Honda's Accord." May wasn't a complete loss for U.S. automakers. "The subcompact Chevy Aveo was up 44%, the compact Pontiac Vibe up 72%, and the Chevy Cobalt, up 19%." Sales of Ford's Focus increased by 53%. The newly redesigned Chevy Malibu sold so well that, according to GM vice president Mark LaNeve, "We just ran out of product." But small and midsize car sales couldn't rescue U.S. automakers from a historic loss. According to the New York Times, May marked the first time that Asian automakers outsold all of Detroit's big three. "General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler combined for a record low market share of 44.4 percent, compared with 48.1 percent for 10 Asian brands, according to the Autodata Corporation, the industry statistics firm." Automakers overall lost money last month, continuing a historic slide now into its seventh month. The Detroit Free Press reports, "Industrywide sales of new vehicles declined 10.7% in May." SUV and large truck sales led the plunge, dropping off 23.6% even as car sales rose 2.4%. But the top spot illustrates the shifting American automobile market best. The last time the F-150 was not the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. was June, 2005, "when the Chevrolet Silverado pickup took a brief lead," according to the AP. The last time a car led auto sales, according to Motor Trend, was September, 1991. The Civic has never even been Honda's best-selling car before. It topped the Accord for the first time ever in May. Though the Civic is available as a fuel-sipping hybrid, gasoline-powered Civic still drove the sales trend. Kicking Tires reports, "Of the 53,299 Civics sold in May, 4,676 were hybrids." In further proof that Americans are now thinking small, the Corolla outsold the Camry for the first time last month as well. As Autoblog comments, "Note to automakers: that would be the sound of the canary in your coal mine hitting the floor."
Wow I guess the gas prices finally killed that run. I guess you are right though, ridicule veterans on Nov, 11th and say all american cars are crap. You are a true douche.
dude, i didn't ridicule Veterans, you don't get the Veteran posters idea of no rookies on Veterans day.
you chose Nov, 11th to honor poster on a BBS instead of the people the day was supposed to honor. I apologize for calling you a douche.
you didn't like that I said "Veterans Rule" and you didn't like the picture of Hakeem and the USA Flag behind him. My bad, I guess African American Muslims who won Championships is a bad idea to post on this board.
dude the picture was fine. The fact that you honored "Veteran Clutchfans" is the problem when done on Nov, 11th.
Or maybe his point was that posting NBA stars who haven't served in the military are not the best emblems of "Veterans' Day." I could be reaching here...
I guess this dude deducts that I hate America cause all the Ford cars I've owned sucked and that since he's own a Ford 150 for 23 years that makes him more of an American. Well, at least its not the usual Tinman hates China crap from the newbies. I used the Veterans day thing as a double meaning, happy Veterans day (the real holiday) and a shout out to the Veteran board members meaning people who've been here for along time. I guess that means I hate America all the red states! and the Ford 150s and the Ford Focuses cause Ford Focuses are so American they are made in Mexico. I guess I hate Mexicans too right?
As always, your logic is flawless. But wow, what a revelation here. You hate China, America, and Mexico. To say nothing of Floored Motors. How do you feel about Canada, tinman?
Their bacon tastes good when I order stuff from Papa Johns. Plus Michael J Fox is from Canada and Back to the Future series was awesome! wait I hate Hockey..
When companies struggle, their are many reasons. The detroit 3 is struggling mainly because of the union. We can beat around the bush if we want, but the main reason foreign automakers can build cars more effeciently is labor cost. They don't have this huge overhead to deal with in terms of legacy cost. UAW think of what's best for them and not them and the company. When they start downsizing, now u just killed the goose. GM just has too many replicated companies. How many times must u rename the same car? I believe america can build high quality cars and for the most part the do. As a guy who owns 4 big rigs built in america, I know usa can make great durable vehicles. Each one of my trucks have over 500k miles on them and they will hold steady for 1m milies easy. So we can build a truck that can get to 1m miles with easy hauling 80k lbs at 80mph up a 6% grade, yet most american cars start having trouble at 60k miles? Something is wrong with that picture.
Not pleasant to see the whole scale support for just dumping the retirement benefits and health benefits for folks who worked their whole lives and are now retired. Way to go young guys. What if someone just took away your 401(k) or SEP retirement plans. Oh, you worked for it? Well so did they. I know it doesn't count as they were in a union and did not go to college like you did. What sort of country would it be if someone could make good money without going to college or owning their own company to employ non-uninized workers? I bet the Japanese have unions in their plants at home, still make good cars and have effective management. The unions can care less about how many replicated companies GM has. The unions are not responsible for cars breaking at 60k, which I don't believe it true any more. The same union members build the million mile trucks. How is that possible. Why not explain that.
Japan is the country where workers used to have lifetime employment. Many essentially still do. They open non-union factories for their cars here because they know they can undercut the Big Three, and it's hard to fault them for it. You know what? If the Big Three would simply build cars of the same build quality as the Japanese, with style and innovation, like they used to, we wouldn't be having this discussion. The industry needs a complete makeover. It also needs government help. Obama wants the US to be a leader in "green cars," so why don't we insure there is an American auto industry that can build them? And the retirement benefits should remain funded. A promise was made to those workers and they held up their end of the bargain. It's not their fault that the designs were crap. We can build cars equal to any cars built on the planet. Why not do it, instead of talking about it? I remember when people laughed at the tiny Japanese cars when they first came here. No one wanted them. So the Japanese learned. Well, now it's time to beat them at their own game. Way past time.
there are no unions in the japanese factories in usa. I seriously doubt there are any unions in japan given their working culture. Unions by themself are good, when backed by a .gov looking for votes they can strangle a company.
Well someone had to do it. I guess there are unions at the Japanese auto makers in Japan after all. ****** Toyota rewards Japanese workers Posted by: Ian Rowley on March 15 Much is made of how Toyota benefits from its non-union employees in the United States, but it’s a bit different back home. In Japan, Toyota Motor Workers’ Union has 58,000 members. What’s more, with the financial year ending later this month in Japan, pay negotiation is in full flow. http://www.businessweek.com/autos/autobeat/archives/2007/03/toyota_pays_up.html
