Why then does Ford out sell GM every year in the truck department?

What does GM produce in the Car department that is fresh and new?

Why would a company drop all it's rear wheel drives, In favor of front wheel drive when a rear wheeel is known to be better?

You can buy a brand new GTO for nothing right now cause they are not selling.


GM bought up all those losing companys but never had a plane on what they had that they needed. They just jumped on a band wagon that is going no where. For every year you lose to bad designs and gimmics "That add' cost of owner ship people will look else where. it will take years to catch up for all those bad ideas.

 

That is a very blanket statement, and is only true some of the time.
Up to 200hp, and in low mu (snow or ice) situations front wheel drive is actually better.

BTW GM never stopped building rear wheel drive cars here in Australia.
Thats because if they did they might as well stop building cars.
FWD does not suit our dry roads and high power requirements.

 

Get used to it then. GM has said they are dropping the rear wheel drive from all it's line.

Snow and ice is fine for FWD. What is the other 2/3rds of the country going to do with it. I quess we can all buy 4WD with rearwheel steering. That went real well for them 4 years ago, For a extra $5000.00 US dollars.

 

I can ASSURE you they will never stop making RWD cars here in Australia, not within the next 10 years anyway.
As I said before they may as well withdraw from the market completely if they do drop RWD.

The torque of a great thumping V8 doesn't go to well through FWD does it?
Not to mention the packaging and handling issues associated with it.

 

Muffinman Why then does Ford out sell GM every year in the truck department?
It's about 1:1 in pickups. GM outsells Ford in trucks, in total (all catagories). We've covered this ad neauseum in the Ford vs. everyone else forums, along with the documenting links

What does GM produce in the Car department that is fresh and new?
Cadillac, Buick, and Chevy introduced a few new models, with more on the way next year.

Why would a company drop all it's rear wheel drives, In favor of front wheel drive when a rear wheeel is known to be better?
All the new Cadillacs are Rr Wheel drive. the Buick Lucerne will be as well. The Impala will come out as Rr Wheel Drive in '09, tentatively.
You can buy a brand new GTO for nothing right now cause they are not selling.
Let's not go there- I don't like the car any more than you do. Styling just isn't there.

GM bought up all those losing companys but never had a plane on what they had that they needed. They just jumped on a band wagon that is going no where. For every year you lose to bad designs and gimmics "That add' cost of owner ship people will look else where. it will take years to catch up for all those bad ideas.

Big American Car Companies get incredibly stoopid when they have lots of cash. Jaguar, Land Rover, and Mazda haven't exactly been windfalls for Ford either.

 

I'd like to see that documented. The facts are the shift in GM is to Rr wheel drive in the larger cars. Such a statement was never made.

 

Polarbear. I love mazda cars. Very reliable and a good value.

Front wheel drives are more efficient than rear wheel drives. If you have the government breathing down your neck to get fuel economy up. You make some sacrifices. 3 of my cars are front wheel drive. Front wheel drive is very nice to have on ice. Id even consider buying a front wheel drive diesel pickup. All that weight over the axle I bet it would get around better than a bug or corvair. Throw in a locker and you got yourself a winning combo.

For those that dont go offroad often subarus 65% front 35% rear fourby combo would be nice for a diesel pickup too. Go part time front wheel drive with a 35/65 and you would have a very good handling truck. They even have a button to make it 50/50 for offroad use. Very cool.

 

I am sorry, but I don't understand the Mazda bit...
Mazda has provided HUGE imput to a lot of Fords current line up, the Fusion is essentially a Mazda 6, the Escape was engineered by Mazda...
They haven't lost any money in recent times, and they have one of the strongest product line ups going around IMO.
They also have a future as well.
The next MX-5 (Miata) is just around the corner, talk of an RX-7 just on the horizon, not to mention the Mazda 6 MPS, plus a new Escape/Tribute will be here mid 06.

Jaguar and Land Rover (you can throw Aston Martin in the same bin) have cost Ford lots of money in recent times, however all of these companies have a strong future potential, Land Rovers Range Stormer should be here soon, and it should be VERY popular. The Discovery 3 has just arrived, with fantastic reviews (lets hope it translates into sales!!!). Jaguar has a few new cars on the horizon, and Aston Martin has its AMV8, which I can garruntee will see by the truck load.

I believe Ford has done a fantastic job with these 3 companies, they have managed to modernise them, but retain the brands core values and styling.

Fords European arm is certainly doing a whole lot better than GM's...

 

I take it you have never driven a Focus RS?
Lockers don't work to well with Front wheel drive... (can you say Torque steer?)
This would work against a diesels torquey low rpm power delivery as well, the thing would understeer like you wouldn't believe...

My mum has just purchasing a VW Golf (I think its a Jetta in your market, but its the hatch version) 2.0 TDI with a 6 speed manual.
On the first tank she got 50mpg!!! And that is with only 400miles on the clock now...
The thing handles well to, not a lot of torque steer for something with 240ft lbs of torque. (and no it doesn't have a locker )

BTW most Subaus lock the torque 50/50. Some have a torque distributing centre differential (STi etc.) where the user can adjust it though...

The 35/65 combo you mentioned is about the optimum for maximum torque delivery, with an active centre differential (ALA Skyline GTR) it becomes even more benefitial.

 

I am sorry, but I don't understand the Mazda bit...
Strong product line, but takes resources away from other products,since they have to share the same financing pot. Not wildly profitable either, although the sea of red ink finally quit (remember they went bust, and Ford picked them up at the behest of the Japanese Government).
Jaguar and Land Rover (you can throw Aston Martin in the same bin) have cost Ford lots of money in recent times, however all of these companies have a strong future potential, Land Rovers Range Stormer should be here soon, and it should be VERY popular. The Discovery 3 has just arrived, with fantastic reviews (lets hope it translates into sales!!!). Jaguar has a few new cars on the horizon, and Aston Martin has its AMV8, which I can garruntee will see by the truck load.

Here's where we have a sea of red ink. My own opinion is Ford needs to lose these divisions...now, and focus on more pressing problems- like coming up with competitive products in the (very profitable) full-size domestic SUV arena, expanding diesel choices, and re-designing the Ranger

 

I would also disagree that all people want rear wheel drive vehicles. In fact unless you have a performance application I think that front wheel dirve is a better setup.

 

I would never want a front-wheel drive truck. This is crazy. I would say learn to drive in the snow, but I've read before that you do know how, so I dont understand your statements LH. Put a load in the back of this truck, and lets see how far your you get. Or how many miles your tires will get. Try towing with this monstrousity(sp?), that would be quite the callenge. No, a front wheel drive truck, or a slpit 65/35, would NOT be a good idea IMO. Ford sells Trucks 1:1 to GM? I'm not so sure about this Polar. Maybe I need to read these Ford vs everything else threads? I know Ford has a large amount of fleet sales, but that doesnt account for 300,000 trucks.

 

This sounds more like an attempt at copying the super duty.

 

re: 1:1. The difference was either 65 or 100K units, out of a total of almost 3 million pickups between GM and Ford. Closer than a Washington State governor's election, in other words. I'm too tired to look up the links, but they're there. We debated whether to count the Avalanche as a pickup, which was the spread. At any rate, it was closer than anyone thought (GMC + Chevy combined),

 

The Cayenne actually kept Porsche out of the #1 or #2 spot- the quality is attrocious- or at least not up to Porsche standards. In a model breakdown, it scored quite low- well below all of the domestic SUV's except the H2 (wassup with that?).