Ford Death Watch

Ford Death Watch 47: Taurus! Taurus! Taurus!

By Robert Farago
June 25, 2009

By all accounts, the refreshed Ford Taurus is an excellent car. Easy-to-drive, economical, well-built, comfortable, capacious and handsome. As a sign of its pre-launch success, the vehicle's critics are focusing on its sticker price. As a firm believer that something is worth exactly what someone will pay for it, it remains to be seen if Ford's priced the refreshed Taurus out of the market. Meanwhile and in any case, Taurus Gen 6 won't "save" Ford like the 1986 model. The 2010 Taurus may be a singular automobile, but it is not a signature automobile. To survive in today's crowded, shrunken, hyper-competitive new car market, Ford needs vehicles that clearly differentiate the brand from the competition, and marketing to match. Ford recognizes the problem, but fails to rectify it.

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Editorial: Ford Death Watch 46: Fauxcus

By Edward Niedermeyer
May 25, 2009

While its Detroit rivals unravel with publicly-funded gusto, Ford continues to enjoy nearly unanimous praise from the media and industry commentators. And why not? Free from the public funding, bankruptcy, dealer slashing and attendant bad publicity plaguing its competitors, Ford is clearly the healthiest of America's automakers. But it's impossible to forget that Ford's buoyancy is but one of the final boons of the pre-collapse credit markets. Mortgaged to the hilt, Ford finds itself facing new CAFE and emissions standards without a certain deep-pocketed uncle standing by to pay its way into the new, green automotive paradigm. As a result, Ford seems to be trading long-term opportunities for short-term survival.

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Ford Death Watch 45: Drive One. Act Two?

By Robert Farago
February 22, 2009

Perusing the February 23rd issue of AutoBiWeek brought to mind Frank Sinatra's final concert series. My thought at the time: can someone just shoot this guy? One of the greatest singers of all time couldn't hit a note with a blunderbuss. In AutoBiWeek's case, we can skip the paean to their heyday (for obvious reasons) and highlight WeatherTech's two-page spread on the inside cover. It's only a matter of time... Meanwhile, Ford's ponied-up to advertise their pony car. As Chrysler and GM embark on their "You Paid for It" farewell tour, one wonders if the ad for Ford's greatest hit remix signals a dramatic return to form, or the end of the end.

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Editorial: Ford Death Watch 44: A Time to Die

By Ken Elias
January 31, 2009

Ford sits on the "Edge" of disaster. Despite the assurances from its CEO and chief cheerleader to the contrary, Alan Mulally knows that the day of reckoning could soon appear at his doorstep. Without an increase in sales volume, and soon, there will be no way to stop the cash burn. We're not going to malign anything Mr. Mulally has done so far. In fact, he's done more right than any other head honcho from Detroit in decades. But it's time to pull out all the stops and break with tradition of never wishing ill on a competitor. It's time for Chrysler to die.

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Editorial: Ford Death Watch 48: Branding Isn’t Everything

By Robert Farago
December 1, 2008 It’s been a while since we’ve run a Ford Death Watch. Which doesn’t mean Ford isn’t dying. It is. It’s just dying more slowly and less spectacularly than GM and Chrysler. In fact, Ford’s head-faked the press. They’ve convinced the pundocrats that The Blue Oval Boys don’t need federal bailout bucks to survive. Oh what the Hell, FoMoCo CEO Alan Mulally just about told Congress, as you’re offering… we might as well accept. In truth, the Detroit’s last man standing is about to hit the pavement just as hard as its cross-town co-conspirators.

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Ford Death Watch 47: The Man With the Plan

By Ken Elias
August 13, 2008

In a recent article, The Economist wondered if Detroit's automakers would win their "race against time." In other words, will Ford, GM or Chrysler return to profitability before their cash conflagration throws them into the Chapter 11 burn unit? At the risk of providing a piercing glimpse into the obvious, The Big 2.8 need to change course or flame out. STAT. The Economist rightly suggests that Ford is the only carmaker of the three with a coherent strategy for escaping C11. For contrast, let's recap GM's and Chrysler's plans...

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Ford Death Watch 46: The Toyotafication of Ford

By Stein X Leikanger
July 25, 2008 At one time, the nations of Europe took great pride in their cavalry divisions, horses and men numbering tens of thousands. Then the Gatling gun made its debut, and all those horses and all that equipment became sausages and bric-a-brac. And so it is with the SUV. The Gatling gun of rising gas prices has laid waste to The Big 2.8's armies, throwing their plans into complete chaos. To its credit, Ford is attempting to regroup, rearm and re-engage. So how's it going?

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Ford Death Watch 45: Last Man Standing Pt. 2

By Michael Martineck
June 19, 2008

I recently bought a dishwasher. Investor Kirk Kerkorian (a.k.a. “The Lion of Las Vegas”) bought 20m shares of Ford Motor Company. As a percentage of net worth, we each spent comparative amounts. But I’m pretty sure I got the better deal. I’m positive I’m going to have guacamole-free dinnerware for the next five years. Capt. Kirk can’t make anywhere near as bold a statement about the longer-term value of his Ford shares. Or can he?

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Ford Death Watch 44: Captain Kirk Bets on The Last Man Standing

By John Horner
May 12, 2008

Why would gunslinger/investor Kirk Kerkorian want to buy Ford? After two decades living high off the [gas] hog, Ford’s still suffering the Mother of all Hangovers. The night before the day after, FoMoCo headed down to the Vegas strip and got hitched, polygamy-style (Hertz, Aston-Martin, Jaguar and Volvo). While town father Bill Ford's sobered-up and hired sheriff Mulally-- whose drawn-up the divorce papers and cleaned-up the town-- it still looks like tornado fodder. And here comes Captain Kirk, all guns blazing, looking to take over the joint. Why now? 

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Ford Death Watch 43: Drive One… What?

By Robert Farago
April 13, 2008

"Ford on a good day is always about the people," declared Jim Farley, group vice president of Ford marketing and communications. Like many of these pre-digested pronouncements, Farley’s seemingly innocuous, feel-good assertion is fraught with unintentional meaning. What does Farley mean by “Ford on a good day?” What’s Ford about on a BAD day? Is Ford bi-polar? Manic depressive? Does it forget to take its meds? And what about the contradiction between “on a good day” and “always?”  And, most damning of all, Ford is NOT about the people. It’s about the product.

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Posted in Editorials | Ford Death Watch | 65 comments