First, Ford made news by having a long streak of new vehicle intros without a single major recall. A far cry from the end of the Nasser days where it seemed every new vehicle has some sort of recall. Ford's streak has lasted over 5 years and still going.

Ford has just made news recently that their new car quality rating (problems per car) is now on par with Toyota. Although Toyota's quality has dropped, most all of the improvement is because Ford actually got things together and made some major improvements both in assembly and in working with and getting better quality out of their suppliers. A recent story was in the Detroit News about how some dealers who depended on warranty work are having a more difficult time.

The problem with Ford has had was it's been running no new cars.

That's going to change dramatically starting this winter.

Ford moved the restyled Mustang up from next spring to this winter, possibly by December, beating the Camaro to market. Mustang is no doubt going to have the bigger impact. Camaro is a known entity (despite what some whiners in the 2010 Camaro may say), while Mustang is all but unknown, and will be a bigger surprize to most everyone.

Ford's new redesigned Taurus is also going to be a huge surprize to 99% of the population. Like the Mustang, no one knows or sees it coming. Like the Mustang, it's an accelerated program. Like the Mustang, it's going to suddenly pop up in showrooms along with a ton of advertising.

Ford's Futura is slated for a redesign within the next 24 months or so. The new Fiesta is due here in less than 3 years. Crown Vic's replacement is due in 3 years. Ranger's replacement is finally going to show up in about 2 years.

While all of this is going on, Ford is coming out with a line of turbocharged, direct injected EcoBoost engines. Top one being a twin turbo V6 putting out over 400 horsepower for some Lincolns and perhaps a Mustang. Ford is actually designing cars with more inspiration than a shoebox. Also, the crossover onslaught continues.

There is finally some movement at Ford.

Hopefully it's not too late.

 

Agreed, Ford looks like it has some amazing stuff coming. I read the other day they're bringing back the Bronco off-road SUV.

NY Times has an article today on the marketing guy that Ford hired away from Toyota:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/business/20ford.html

 

Would you like an opportunity to rephrase that?

 

Its not the Futura...its the Fusion Guy.

 

I have less optimistic outlook for Ford then Guy.

Sure, they have a lot of product coming, but still rather sub-par.

The Fusion is getting an MCE, but GM will have EPII cars out in a year, blowing the Fusion Tripplets out of the water.

The Taurus is getting a Ford Euro revision, but from what I understand, will still be the standard current Taurus that is still sub-par.

Mustang gets an MCE again on a sub-par car compared to upcoming Camaro and Challenger as well as other 2 door coupes in market.

Ford keeps making more people haulers. How many SUV's can a company have?

You have the Taurus X, then the Flex, the Escape, the Edge, Explorer, Expedition, Expedition L.
Compared to Chevy's Nox, Traverse, Tahoe, Burb.

I see Ford doing a bit better, but none of this is enough to get up and over Toyota and Honda. GM launched the Malibu, a car that clearly leapfrogged any domestic mid sizer by a MILE, and keep leapfrogging themselves with every new Epsilon car.

Ford is doing what GM was trying to do 2 years ago. A "revised" Malibu for 2006, a "revised" Impala with nice lines but same chassis underneith"....its like I read this article already.

 

I do see something stirring at ford. If you surf this board and haven't checked out the interiors of the taurus and taurus X you haven't seen fords progress. The current taurus is the only ford product I've ever considered buying, its top notch, especially for the price. The Ford Flex is probably the next big thing in my eyes, its proportions are just right and looks boxy type good kinda like a jeep cherokee or Xb. Even though its a minivan/crossover/wagon it comes with 2 inch tow hitch receiver, man check. I cant tell you how ridiculous it looks when I see an explorer with a 1 1/4 reciever.

I am still dissapointed in the fusions mpgs, the new focus is nice except that POS fake chinzy side vent, WTF? who approved that. I couldn't buy one just because of that.

 

I saw some MKSs with M plates being driven around the other day. They looked GOOD! I believe they're supposed to be using the TT V6.

 

I'd say "coming soon" instead of "now playing"...

What are we applauding--finally replacing the Ranger and Crown Vic? A couple mid-cycle upgrades to Mustang and Fusion? The revised Mustang sounds nice enough, but it's already selling okay I'm going to guess. A decent Taurus would be news, but it'll need to be on par with the new Malibu/Camry/Accord to be taken seriously. It's also nice Ford has finally decided the US gets a sub-compact. How about also bringing over the real Focus, too?

In all, they're finally doing a lot of things that were overdue or expected. Sounds more straight to DVD rental than summer blockbuster.

 

Guy's really been all-aboard the Ford train lately hasn't he?

The Taurus -- this is basically the same car that no one paid attention to when it was the Five Hundred, no? Interior upgrades and MCE's are always welcome, I just wonder if the Taurus re-badging is making THAT big of an impact? The sketches of the new one do look interesting....

Mustang vs. Camaro will be an interesting battle -- they are BOTH going to make a splash -- but anyone who has seen the Mustang Giugiardo concept has seen a decent representation of what it will look like (straight from your typing fingers, Guy). I'm still counting on Chevy to pull out a few surprises with the Camaro as well.

Crown Vic? Ranger? As someone else said, it's about time they do something with these. I personally wouldn't give Ford major credit for doing something that needed to be done 10 years ago -- no exaggeration on the time frame.

The brand I do feel is doing some good things is Lincoln. Their lineup seems to be fresh and well-done. They've kind of flown under the radar with their turnaround (unlike Cadillac) -- I just wish they had a "true" CTS competitor. The MKZ is nice and all, but base FWD is a disappointment.

 

So I wonder which is it, did Ford's quality actually go up, or did Toyotas drop to Ford levels?

Our transport van, which is a E-350 SuperDuty had a recall last week, and spent the day at the Ford dealer.

 

Just a day? Could have been worse...

No apllause here.

 

Well it was just the cruise control switch, regardless it was still a recall.

 

To me, we all need to sing Ford and Gm praises. They are so much better then even last year. With Chrysler an unkown, if the last 2 viable American auto companys dont get new customers soon we might as well kiss the jobs they provide bye bye. Deriding then with unfounded crap aint helping anyone.

 

Yeah, its kinda of ridiculous, but it indicates that Ford was smart enough to see the writing on the wall for BoF SUVs and have been far more aggressive in getting CUVs out.

Escape & Edge are big sellers and GM looks way behind there.

IMO the Taurus is example #1 of why Ford is suffering from a perception/marketing problem rather than a product problem. Sure it's boring looking but that doesn't explain why its being destroyed by the boring and also ancient GM W-cars.

 

You've gotten my point.

There's going to be Ford haters who will look at what's going on, and downplay everything (you know who you are ). But the fact is that both GM and now Ford have gotten back in the game. As Flip mentioned, the interiors of Ford's latest stuff (especially the Taurus) is actually on par with any Toyota in just about every way and actually ahead of Toyota in design IMHO.

No doubt, GM has also come a long way (about a 180 I'd say), but to tell the truth, I was measuring Ford up for a casket not too long ago because it seemed that they couldn't shake their bad product decisions and get some cars out ASAP. With both Mustang and Taurus on a fast track and moved up on the schedule, Ford's key cars are going to be hitting the streets sooner rather than later.

Fusion's (sorry Al ), restyle also seems to have been moved up. It's pretty silly to degrade it's refreshening, because the Fusion is already a very good car. All it needs is an SVT-like version (which was killed by the old Ford Motor Company) and enough of a restyle to keep it fresh.


Before we start brushing off the Crown Vic replacement, remember it was originally supposed to be a bigger Five Hundred. Instead, it's going to share it's chassis with the RWD Falcon.

If Ford can stop losing money till these cars get out, they have a good cahnce of turning themselves around.