What's your opinion on the MiniVan Market today!

In

Were it not for MikeHunt's provocation, I would not have coalesced
the truth about Ford ownership:

"The ONLY good Ford is a Ford still on Warranty or an old Ford
restored"

 

Unfortunately, Ford DOES make crud across its whole line because of its 5%
mandatory cost reduction per year policy that they make their suppliers
comply with. 5% a year, every year, reduced cost to Ford. Whomever thought
this up is going to destroy the company in a decade.

And it is plainly showing in the last couple of years as rather than be out
of business, their suppliers are outsourcing their subcomponets to cheaper
sources and while it passes the specs, reliability is far worse. Also,
many suppliers have figured out that if it is made/assembled in the U.S.,
it is considered "domestic" - no matter where the individual circuit boards
and plastic and steel and so on comes from.

Afterall, unless the part specifies new high-strength U.S. steel, nobody
can tell the difference between recycled stuff from China or Taiwan once
it is anodized or electroplated.

5% price reduction a year, mandatory. 1-2% vehicle price increase every
year. Not hard to do the math. In a decade, your Escort will cost
Ford 40% less and you 20% more. 20K for an Escort than costs Ford
10K to build, anyone? At that point, you'd be better off buying
a KIA or Hyundai. At least you get that 10 year warranty.

Their business plan seems to be to buy out other companies that make
superior vehicles and graft their parts into their other vehicles.
All this is going to do is eventually drag all of the Ford brands
down to the same shoddy level as they continue to try to cut costs every
year.(notable exception with Jaguar) Volvo was the real shame, though.
Twice the quality of anything Ford ever made. Now, the 2005s are going
to start seeing Ford versions. Ick.


Me? Honda and Toyota don't play this game. Nice quality cars.

 

Unfortunately, Ford DOES make crud across its whole line because of its 5%
mandatory cost reduction per year policy that they make their suppliers
comply with. 5% a year, every year, reduced cost to Ford. Whomever thought
this up is going to destroy the company in a decade.

And it is plainly showing in the last couple of years as rather than be out
of business, their suppliers are outsourcing their subcomponets to cheaper
sources and while it passes the specs, reliability is far worse. Also,
many suppliers have figured out that if it is made/assembled in the U.S.,
it is considered "domestic" - no matter where the individual circuit boards
and plastic and steel and so on comes from.

Afterall, unless the part specifies new high-strength U.S. steel, nobody
can tell the difference between recycled stuff from China or Taiwan once
it is anodized or electroplated.

5% price reduction a year, mandatory. 1-2% vehicle price increase every
year. Not hard to do the math. In a decade, your Escort will cost
Ford 40% less and you 20% more. 20K for an Escort than costs Ford
10K to build, anyone? At that point, you'd be better off buying
a KIA or Hyundai. At least you get that 10 year warranty.

Their business plan seems to be to buy out other companies that make
superior vehicles and graft their parts into their other vehicles.
All this is going to do is eventually drag all of the Ford brands
down to the same shoddy level as they continue to try to cut costs every
year.(notable exception with Jaguar) Volvo was the real shame, though.
Twice the quality of anything Ford ever made. Now, the 2005s are going
to start seeing Ford versions. Ick.


Me? Honda and Toyota don't play this game. Nice quality cars.