Ford is investing in the diesel market.
Believe me.

VW diesels aren't bad, but they, like every other European company they have an issue in the American market.
Capacity.
Typical American consumers (and Australians for that matter) believe that capacity is the single biggest driver to the power output of an engine.
Few people, beyond my learned FTE friends, could believe that I can get more power and torque from a 2.0l turbo diesel 4 banger than a warmed over big block gas V8.
To the normal consumer capacity equals power and torque, and diesels are smelly, slow and only used in big rigs.
This view is changing, and Diesels are slowing breaking into an American market dominated by large gas V8s.

Just a quite tip from me, within 2 years there WILL be a diesel ranger and F150

 

"Just a quite tip from me, within 2 years there WILL be a diesel ranger and F150"

I sure hope so.

 

Sorry if I touched a nerve there with my post. Yeh Fords not immune to problems. There vulnerable like anybody else. But Dodge is no different. The Durangoand Dakota recall that they finally did when the government stepped in. GMs and there piston slap issue,Dodge and there inferior auto transmissions they kept putting out for years. The list goes on and on. How many buybacks did Dodge and GM have. Every auto manufacturer has them not just Ford. Dodge and GM have serious issues with there trucks as well. Ford sold 939,000 trucks last year the most ever by any manufacturer ever. Must be a lot of stupid people buying these trucks now days Huh. These people know Ford has the better overall truck.

 

Not sure they know that at all buddy! People buy what their parentes owned plain and simple. Fords getting by on their past reputation. Its like fram oil filters, too many people think they are the same as they once were but theyre junk now. Nobodys got as many recalls as Ford. Selling the most trucks dont mean squat when you giving half of them away in commercial fleets. And who cares who sells more trucks you need to make money selling the ones you do sell. Would you wanna mow twicw as many lawns as someone else just to have bragging rights in the neighberhood? What goods it do you if you dont even make enough to cover gas but the other guy makes enough doing less to buy a new mower, there is Ford now.

 

No .. I don't think so. I'd switch to horse and buggy before I bought a ToyotaFord of any shape, make, model, etc. I don't care what argument is used. Before I buy anything new, even from Ford, they had best put a larger V8 with a stick behind it for me .. or I'll be going backwards in years for rebuildable replacement trucks. Ford made some mighty FINE 70s trucks and I'm quite sure I can pick up a nice 78 or 79 Bronco that will still kick & take names on most imported clunkers. But .... that is another bridge to cross if and when we find the stream or the bridge.

 

So you think Fords junk now huh. What dyou call Dodge junk x3 or GM junk x4. Hey Dodge guy get a Ford.

 

This is starting to go down hill real fast. Facts gentlemen ... let's state facts. Opinion is cool as long as it's put out in a manner that is not insulting, defamitory or intended to arouse anger ( flame, troll, whatever ).

Flame off or padlock.

 

First Ford posted a profit of 3.5 billion last year. By contrast GM earned only 3.7 billion and the company is twice as big. Ford has a stated goal of 7 billion in profits by 2007. To get there you need both be improvements and cost cuts. Cost cuts is the first as it is the easist thing to do. Improvements on the other hand take awhile to take hold. High up front cost which doesn't take away from the bottom line but pay big time in the out years.

Lets talk about F1. Jag by itself lost almost 1 billion last year and is an anchor around Fords neck. What the devil are are you sponsering a F1 team when losing that type of money. The Lightning, I loved it but then again its a low volume, high cost vehicle. Not alot of profit in that or any car in the SVT line.

Quality. Yep Ford needs more work is this area, but so does Dodge and GM. GM recalled more than 2 million cars last year. The Durango recall is going to cost Dodge much more the the cruise control is going to cost Ford not even the wrongful death suits that Dodge will have to settle. On top of all this the recall may be expanded to all Chrysler products because the ball joints on the cars are also failing.

Right now Ford is in the process of remaking itself. To do this they must get back to basics. Show me the SVT equilivent for Toyota or Honda. They don't have it, they just make great quality cars for a fair price.

Gm will not be far behind. Dodge did this a few years back and it seems it helped very well. If not for the merger Dodge and Chysler would of failed. Now with there reduced cost structure they are able to bring out new product.

 

I hate when people do this, but here I go; I have a friend whose brother's wife has an Uncle who said the Lightning was actually one of the HIGHEST profit makers in Ford's inventory. (truth is I read it somewhere and will try to find it)


Actually, Toy has TRD and while the superchargers may not be factory installed, they are dealer installed and backed and warranted by Toy.

Honda has Acura, including the NSX!!


I applaud GM. They have something for everyone. From the lowest econojunk to LS6 powered Caddys(Lincoln has all but given up in that segment) I'm also one of the few that like the GTO. But then again, I'm one of the few who like the Marauder.....LOL!!

 

DOHC, you can also get a Saleen or Roush with a factory warranty. And anyway you know that is not what I was talking about.

 

Sorry, you lost me. SVT is/was Ford's factory high performance division.

TRD is Toyota's factory high performance division.

I am Ford biased.......but with the exception of the 3 valve V10, I hate being second(or third best) when talking about performance.

The Chrysler 300 with the pseudo hemi destroys my Marauder.

The same Chrysler motor in a 1/2 ton destroys Ford's 5.4

GM(Caddy) is directly competing with high end and FAST Euro cars when Lincoln is tossing in the towel.

No SVT

No HOT Mustang currently

No Hurricane/Hemi beater


I know it's all about the bottom line($$$) but if lowly Chrysler and GM can build image cars then so should Ford...........current GT excluded, but try to buy one.

 

What will have to change is the market place, for Ford, chrysler and gm to start putting diesels as an engine option in production cars. Everything is governed by profit. Right now the marketing researchers have not found a good neitch for diesels in production cars. But it should not be too long before the diesel engine option will be available, maybe the next five years, my guess.

I have worked all over the world for the last twenty-five years and the diesel engine has always been the prefered engine, because the fuel is cheaper to refine and the fuel milage is better. In Europe, what we pay for a gallon of gasoline, is the same price they pay for a liter, of course the base price is the same, only their fuel is loaded up with TAXES.

Remember when Nissan and Toyota came out with the crewcab pickup. I had been riding in the same pickups overseas for years. The small Fords and Chevys available here in the states as gasoline burners are available as oil burners overseas, they maybe called different names but they are the same vehicles.

The reason the diesel engine has not been popular in the US is, the fuel and exhaust smells bad and is smoky, the engines are slow reving, heavy and cost too much, just to name a few. Now with all of the developments of high speed, low smoke, high horsepower, high mileage, fuel stingy engines the popularity of the diesel engine will grow. But, the market place will determine the speed and availability of these engines.

toddyw

 

I'm with you on this. However, there is not much choice for sticks behind V8's.

 

For a start.
F1 is not a problem, both Toyota and Honda compete in F1, and both don't loose money.
In fact Honda came 2nd in the constructors championship if I recall correctly (with BAR) and last year, they clearly had the best engine of all manufacturers last year(including BMW and Ferrari)
Honda also used to dominate F1 back in the McLaren era (ever remember a bloke called Ayrton Senna) and it proved very successful as cementing them as THE BEST engine manufacturer.

Honda also compete in MotoGP, and competed in INDY for quite a few years, all of which proved very good as an engineering development and a marketing exercise.

Toyota used to compete successfully in WRC as well with the GTfour Celica.

What I am trying to say is.
Competing in Motorsport does not neccessarily mean that the company will loose money.
Missmanagement of the Motorsport team means that the team won't be as successful, and therefore not as profitable.

What has proved very successful over the years is:
-Competing in motorsport
-Having "Halo" cars which closely represent the competing vehicles available for customer purchase (Subaru WRX Sti!!!)
-Having base versions of these "Halo" cars at a price everyone can afford

 

That's the theory, but I'm trying to think back on how many Monte Carlo's we sell through the "halo effect." Maybe one or two- in the last five years. GM wastes an astounding amount of money in NASCAR, IMO.