Ok guys. Got me an idea for a post.

What would you do if you were in charge of Ford? What changes would you make, et cetera?

I'd make the 5.0L an option in the Rangers. And I'd switch all nuts, bolts, and screws to standard sizes.

 

First of all, I would never think that I had the engineering and political knowledge to run a company like Ford.

That said, neither does Bill Ford Jr, so.

I would make a diesel option in the Ranger, and in the F-150. I would also keep the trend of the cars right now. I think they are going well with their passenger car program.

Probably the biggest thing, return to their roots, a cheap, reliable car for the masses. That was Henry Fords idea, and I think they need to go back to that.

 

1) Sell Jaguar and Land Rover- stop the bleeding.

2) Revisit the 427 concept car and build it as a legit successor to the Crown Vic.

3) Upgrade powertrains and styling in the 500/Freestyle.

4) Seriously upgrade the powertrains and styling for Lincoln. Cadillac has this right- forget good and boring, go for the performance jugular.

5) Lose the "Euro inspired" styling themes. Make an American car look.... American.

6) Bring the new, upgraded C2 Focus to the US (it's sold everywhere else). Diesel please.

7) Add the Ford Transit (Euro-commercial van) to the lineup to compete with the Dodge/Freightliner Sprinter.

8) Added availability of diesels in the truck lineup.

That'd about do it for the first year or two.

 

I'd keep up with the hybrid trend like they are doing, but most of all more performance and better gas mileage. A lot of the competition is able to do it so why can't ford. I think that ford could dominate the market if they updated a little.

 

Kill off 50% of the SUV flavors... Why do we need three or four, or whatever it is now?

Whoever said they want to make the cars look American, AMEN.

Ryan

 

I'd change the interior. To have a decent interior you have to buy a Lariat or above, at least in the truck/suv line IMO.

And I think Polarbear may be cheating. He's got insider knowledge.

 

Offer a 1940's style F150 option since those looked pretty cool, NO MORE BUBBLE cars!

produce a nice powerful 427 v8 to put in the mustangs for a high performance package.

Bump the 6.0 diesel power up to around 400hp, and make dual exhaust standard on all trucks.

 

Heres a good plan fire all the engineer's and hire some people that know how to make a car/truck last longer run better and easier to work on. I agree v8 the ranger and a diesel for the ranger f-150 and ex. and buy a refinery so we can get fuel at a good price through ford. Thats just my $.02

 

cut the suvs down, offer a non-yuppie model of an suv, offer a small diesel in an suv.

offer a 4 or 5 year, 50 or 60k mile warrenty standard.

offer a small diesel in the f150

on the superduties, make a 100k warrenty standard.

make some more special edition cars, like a hi-po 500, mustang and such, get some excitemnt going in the market. kind of like in the 60's

buy who ever owns consumer reports magazine, then they will automatically sell more small cars to the mindless sheep.

 

Here are my thoughts for what they are worth, some may agree, and some won't.

Jag/Land Rover sell them off, while I like both brands they basically cater to a buyer group that is out of the Ford area.

Volvo keep it, again it customers aren't traditionlly Ford buyers but its a good make to have. Keep the dependablity/safety in this make.

Mazda keep the share in this. Sell well.

Mercury either do something with it or kill it off. I've always like Merc's, especially from the 60's. But this make has been so neglected/ignored for so long it may be time to get rid of it. Kinda like Chrysler did with Plymouth.

Lincoln refine a little, offer some diff drivetrain options, possibly a turbo diesel. Offer a 2 door of some type, be a convertible or coupe, wouldn't be a big seller but might bring in some traffic to the showrooms.

Ford

keep the Focus, I don't like the looks but it does sell well. Possible improvements, offer the diesel and a AWD version w/ more power, kinda like a WRX. Also how about a convertible

F150 keep it but offer a diesel. Also offer a manual w/ the V-8's

F250/350 keep them as is

Mustang keep it as is.

Fusion keep it but offer a manual with the six. Also possible diesel option

Here is where the changes come in

Bring over the KA or Fiesta. Smaller than Focus offer better mileage. Would be better able to compete with smaller offerings Japanese are going to start selling.

500, decent car, don't see alot around. Styling to bland. I would axe this and bring over the Falcon line from Australia, including the truck version. Also offer it in a wagon and build a 2 door of this line.

Crown Vic redo this please, its a great vehicle and will last forever. But its looks are getting dated.

Minivans junk them. Windstar/Freestar never really seemed to catch on that well at least around here. I still see more Areostars than these 2.

Escape, decent vehicle, has a hybrid. I would restyle it to look like the Bronco showcar. Or just replace it with the Bronco. Offer it in 2 and 4 doors. 2 and 4wd. Keep the hybrid version no matter what, makes the tree huggers happy.

Ranger- I have one and love it, but it's time for a serious redo. Ford has the last true compact truck out there, take advantage of this. If a total redo is cost prohibitive federalize the Ranger sold overseas and bring it over. Offer the current engines and add a diesel. Offer in reg cab, extended cab, and true 4dr Can't afford to ignore this market. I'd keep it the same basic size.

Sport trac this would compete with above in 4 door so I would axe it. Or if finance people like me had input and said keep it I would then kill Ranger and off this in reg cab and extended cab, along w/ manuals and diesels.

Vans kinda like the Crown vic, great vehicles and go forever, have a E250, but need a refreshing. Worse case bring over the UK van. Think if fuel prices keep going up this might be a smart move, read diesel.

Explorer/Expedition yes they are different size vehicles, but looking forward to what energy prices seem to be doing, it might make sense to get rid of one. If not I would most definatly offer diesels in each. My thinking is while this market is no where near dead, people have more options with the crossover type vehicles and as energy cost increase sales of these vehicles might be adversly effected. Might be better to make a tough choice now than to be left holding 2 vehicles that could potentially become sales problems.

Remember these are just some thoughts, some seem to make sense others problally not.

 

First off, Id build as many model as possible in the USA and use as many American-made components as possible.
Second, Id make sure that all overhead cam engines are DUAL overhead cam engines. Its so stupid that for is still using single overhead cam technology when there are so many advantages to DOHC without much more added cost.
Id kill Mercury. Id have Ford be the common man's vehicle and Lincoln be the luxury brand. Why does Ford even keep Merc around???
Diesel option for all the trucks and small cars.
Improve fuel economy. Id look at whatever Toyota and Honda are doing to get good fuel economy and do like they do.
Improve quality. Ford is getting better, but they still havent caught up with Toyota yet. Quality is so very important because all it takes is one really bad vehicle to lose someone as a customer for life.

 

A lot of good ideas but, How many people here trust the service department at your local Ford dealership? Unfortunately a common theme on this site is, the major displeasure and lack of trust for dealership service departments, myself included. I don't know what the answer is, but the way dealerships gouge, lie, screw-up Vehicles is the Sh###Ts...That would be one of the first things I would change......

 

Actually thats a really good one, I know my local dealer I wouldn't trust them to work on a anything more complicated than a kids bike, and thats being nice to them

 

Try going to a Toyota dealership sometime. Ford treats you like family compared to Toyota.

 

I agree. I have friends with imports and have gone with them to pull codes or buy parts. It's about as unpleasant as a trip to Wals Mart. I go to the Ford dealer, and shoot, I got a compliment!

Ryan