Ford-

Strengths
-Truck Design
-Interiors
-Ability to use global platforms
-Smaller than GM..easy to menuever
-Bill Ford (Great front man)
-SVT
-Mustang
-Design (say what you want about J Mays, but he makes striking designs...even if they are retro)
-Smart Aquistions
-Heritage

Weeknesses
-Powertrain (especially I4's and V6's)
-Bad fianancial position
-Mercury
-Lincoln
-Rebates making cars less profitable
-Can't cut costs and retain quality

GM
Stengths
-Powertrain..from pushrods to I6's to Northstars, GM has it all. Ecotec offers most standard power in class.
-Bob Lutz
-Trucks
-Holden
-Financially in okay position
-Ability to combine quality with cost cutting
-Interior design (I mean recent like Grand Prix, Equinox, and XLR recent)
-Hummer and Cadillac
-GMAC

Weaknesses
-Exterior Design (in that I mean GM rarely has stand out exterior designs..the Sixteen was one though)
-Size and red tape
-Pension Fund
-Fiat
-Selling cars at huge discounts hurts earings
-Older interiors
-Bad reputation in import buyers minds



Any more to add?

 

GM- weak overall product, strong marketing (incentives)

Their strength is that they're (probably going to) gain market share by discounting 'acceptable' vehicles. Usually that's the last defense when people are comparing most GM models to competitors- cost. Mind you, not all models are discount automobiles, but many are.

 

Strength: corvette (duh)
Xlr
Trucks
Powertrain
Subaru
Holden

Weakness: Buick line
Saturn line
pontiac line (except GTO)
Have a long streak of making dumb decisions
No camaro

Here's my take on the new gm products:

1.) Malibu- too bland to take on the imports.
2.) grand prix- ugly styling for an oterwise descent car.
3.) Silverado ss extended cab- too damn expensive.
4.)Xlr- nice overall package with better styling than the Cts.

 

GM

Too bureaucratic - unwilling to let divisions do their own thing, stuck on the SUV market , victim's of prior management's crappy decisions over the last decade.

Their strength is their size - they appear to be able to buy market share vis a vis the 0%/rebate schemes.

Ford

In financial difficulties temporarily , smaller than GM, and have a ton of purchased divisions that may be distracting them - ex. Jaguar.

(Note, however, that Ford has done good things for Jag in terms of quality.)

Strengths - Long term, solid nameplates - Stang, F-150/F series pickup,Explorer, Taurus, & Crown Vic/Gran Marquis.

As #2, I sometimes think they have the "We'll try harder" attitude - thus, the Lightning, the '03 Cobra, and the continuing support of the Mustang. They also strike me as more "in touch" w/ the younger generation w/ cars such as the Focus & the feel of their Mustang brochure. It did kind of bite 'em w/ the Excursion - I like it, but most people seemed to think it was just too big - which it is big, since it was touted as bigger than the Suburban.

Powertrain wise, I have traditionally felt that GM was stronger due to the internal competition - Pontiac vs. Chevy etc. etc.

Now, it's hard to say as GM hit a home run w/ the LS1 (IMHO) but did it w/ "old school" technology - I.E. cheaper - typical GM.

Ford's modular motors took a while to get up to snuff, but at least they were willing to produce multiple valve V8's.

Refer back to my statement about GM's prior management, and then use their mid 80's thru '98 trucks.

It took them 'til the Vortec series motor ('97, maybe ?) to go sequential F.I. on the trucks when Ford had it back in the late 80's.

Why ? Cheap !

Yeah, TBI may have offered some longevity benefits regarding possible dirty fuel, but my '91 Suburban could sure have benefitted from greater airflow.

And don't even get me started on the 4th gen rehash of an existing floorpan ...

But, I hold high hopes for them in the future, and for that matter, Ford.

Why should I limit myself to one if they both offer products I like ?


My .02 - mebbe plus a few.


Britt

 

Even though the ls1/ls6 is pushrod its still as modern as any ohc engine. It may be oldschool technology but it can kick the crap out of most engines out there.

 

GM:

Strengths:
1. They test the begeezes out of their products. There is rarely a failure to powertrain, electronics, or structure that demands a recall (but there are a bunch of annoying things that simply just irk you).
2. It's generally pretty cheap to repair.

Weaknesses:
1. Because of their size, there's a general "we know best" feeling coming from them & their reps.
2. Probally more aware they are a business 1st than anyone else. Seems cars are a means to an end. That may be true with all car companies, it's just GM does it more blantently.

Ford

Strengths:
1. As a small car company, they seem to move quicker to address trends, correct problems, and seem to have a more direct link with the customer to create future models.
2. Ford's commitment to Performance cars. SVT, Mustang, & Ford's Performance Group all have solid backing from the very top.

Weaknesses:
1. Outside of SVT & Ford Performance Group, it seems Ford's scraping the bottom engineering-wise with the multitude of recalls lately.
2. Ford should fire whoever is running the department covering repairs & customer relations. They have developed a reputation of leaving people high & dry when something breaks or fails because of poor or not well thought out designs. Examples?

*The Thunderbird hardtop that chips & straches & scuffs the body's paint when installed. They created a fix for someone who went to the press, but has done nothing for anyone else.
*Refusing to recall or fix the V8 SHO cam sprocket that tends to break off around 60,000 mile.
*Refusing to reimburse people who has to spend big money because Ford's cooling fans had a tendancy to self destruct. Some people had repeted engine overheating that effected engine life...... and so on & so on.

Chrysler (not mentioned, but I'll include them anyway!).

Strengths:
1. They have a tendency of getting designers straight from God, and get drunk with performance in between bankruptcies!
2. They know how to make cars on little money.

Weaknesses:
1. Mercedes Benz stole their piggy bank, and then ran the company into the ground by cancelling all new product programs that wern't too far along to kill. Then reinstituted most of them only when the rest of MB was threatened to be pulled under as well.
2. They also know how to make cars on little money.

 

I've always believed that GM developed more new technologies, where Ford tends to just restyle their existing products.

GM implemented the limp-home coolant loss scheme (Cadillac), will introduce D.O.D. soon, does things like reverse-flow cooling, gear-driven water pumps, electronic throttles. They also do some lousy things, like Opti-spark, CAGS, V8-6-4. My point is, it seems they try lots of new or different things. At best, Ford adds OHC to its V8's, which is of questionable value, considering the latest Dodge V8 is a pushrod design.

Maybe I'm blind to some of Fords recent developments. Anyone have some good examples?

 

Ford -

Pros:

Customer loyalty (at least on the truck side; I don't know anyone that's particularly loyal to their cars)
Truck line-up (lots of variety; splitting up the F-150 and SD lines allows each to better serve its customers)
Interior Design
Exterior Styling (don't give J Mays a bit of credit for this - it's all the result of his "underlings"; he hasn't done a single notable thing at Ford)

Cons:

Engines (other than SVT motors, they just can't build anything worthy of mention)
Transmissions (getting better with their outsourcing, such as their upcoming use of ZF transmissions)
Financial state (too much debt, not enough income, no good way to gain investor confidence right now)
Project management (too large of a topic to explore here, but those that work with them on a daily basis know what I speak of)

GM -

Pros:

Large engines (their entire line of truck and RWD car motors is specatular)
Transmissions (while they've lost a lot of ground in the past 5 years, they still can build world-class transmissions as the 5L50E shows)
Trucks (they really didn't do anything special with the '99 Silverado; they simply built the best truck that they were capable of doing and it has served them very well)
The HyWire (this car single-handedly gives me hope for America's car industry)

Cons:

Small engines (I've bet up on the Ecotec a lot so I'll avoid repeating myself here)
A lack of robust FWD manual transaxles (although I think this will soon be fixed)
Design (other than Caddy, my emotions run from let-down to outright outrage when looking a new GM vehicles)
Financial state (do not underestimate the burden that GM carries with their pension and health-care problems)
Pricing (anyone else feel like they're going to Sears when looking at GM new-car prices?)
Lack of customer loyalty (they've managed to **** off just about any GM fan that I know)