NAGOYA, Japan - Toyota announced on Friday a global production target of 9.42 million vehicles for next year, increasing the odds that the Japanese manufacturer will surpass troubled General Motors Corp. as the world's No. 1 automaker.

ok so from next year on out we now have a foreign #1 automaker here inthe U.S.A.

they have fallen like dominos. i tell ya, i can see ford or chrysler deff. making a merger with one of these groups, nissan,yota, they contemplated it last year, gm did. obviously its going to happen at some point, the problem is ford, gm promise to make better quality vehicles, which they will, but if toyota is doing what there doing now selling wise, there ultimate goal is to make a better vehicle also.

 

Again and again and again, I will say it.

Look at Ford as a GLOBAL company.

There's lots of Euro cars running around with blue ovals on them. And they ain't made in the US.

 

Ford needs to pick up chrysler when diamler dumps them and create an automotive power house, of course with good management. Ford owning jeep and land rover alone would put the thumb screws on yoda, throw in ford trucks and the new bronco and ford would have the offroad market cornered. A ford hemie in a volvo, a mazda duratec in a neon, a jag v8 in a charger, a sebring conv with a 4.6 dohc cobra motor, a super duty with a cummins, a ram with the ford v-10, all kinds of posibilities. It doesn't hurt to dream ha ha. Actually the dodge brothers built engines for Henery Ford back in the day. Of course ford would have to be able to safe thier own neck before they could save someone elses. I still think that would be an awesome combination, ford and chrysler under good management, yoda would have to bow when ford passed by ha ha. I'm wasting all my good idea's on this forum when I should be in charge at ford, I mean ford and chrysler.

 

I'm wasting all my good idea's on this forum when I should be in charge at ford, I mean ford and chrysler.[/QUOTE]

i could see that.....you do have some good ideas

i keep forgeting about ford as a global product, what im confused about is, when there talking about a loss in profit,sales....etc... do they just mean here on this soil or ford selling vehicles as a whole across the globe. if they sold that thunder model hear, they would have to have a plant just for the truck......i think it would sell like hot cakes. 4dr frontier and yotas are cool looking vehicles, i think ford shot themself by not offering that here,substituting the sporttrac. it may not have baled them out from there financial woes but i gaurantee they would have sold a ton here.. awesome looking truck. that is the first ford that made me feel this way

 

That sport trac is a joke, it's not even a truck, it's an suv. I'm with you, I think that mexican crewcab is one sharp truck, I personally don't need a crewcab, but it would be tempting even for me. Ford is loosing ranger sales everyday I bet because they don't have the crewcab. Somebody up in detroit needs to pull thier head out of thier butt. Truck Trend says that the crewcab is comming, maybe as soon as next year, but even if thats so, how many sales have they allready lost. According to ford world monthly newspaper, ford sales are very strong in europe and other parts of the world, they just suck here. But then the rest of the world gets the cool vehicles. Couldn't Bill Ford put 2 and 2 together, cool vehicles = sales, in europe for example.

 

They mean just US sales.

Globally, Ford made a profit this year. Only on the order of a "few" hundreds of millions of dollars, but still, they did make a profit.

At least they haven't (yet) resorted to Chrysler's tactics of building vehicles that aren't even going to dealers, and leaving them in the factory parking lot.

 

I didn't hear about that. Please elaborate.

 

Dodge dealers currently have so many vehicles which are not sold so Chrysler can't shipp new vehicles until dealers need them.

 

You're joking right?????
Ford buying Dodge?????
Gives a whole new meaning to,,,,,

Ford's
Own
Redesigned
Dodge!

 

i've driven by the jeep plant in toledo on several occasions and can vouch for all the vehicles in their parking lots

 

And, supposedly, Daimler-Benz (or whatever the parent company is) is PO'D!

 

Well I know how they could turn a bigger profit. BREAK UP THE UNIONS!!!!! Union Labor is what is killing American industry. Look at Toyota Pickups. You can't blame their success on sweat shop labor, There made right in the southern United States. Open Shop mind you.

 

"Look at Toyota Pickups. You can't blame their success on sweat shop labor, There made right in the southern United States. Open Shop mind you."
They seem to be tough machines, and keep their value in the used market. I haven't met any Yota owners that didn't like them.

 

It's surpising anyones buying them as ugly as they are, but I guess thier buying the name not the look. If ford gets that ugly, I'll for sure be driving antiques ha ha.

 

I think this new vehicle called the Edge is awesome. A crossover vehicle it already has 50,000 in the order banks. This could be the next Taurus for Ford. This is vehicle that will make Ford much needed revenue. This vehicle will make more money for Ford per vehicles then any off there cars. As far as the ranger being redesigned. The trouble is small truck sales have decline for everybody else as well. Redesighns cost millions off dollars an right now Ford cant afford that. Especially in a declining market.