Ford Running Out Of Stuff To Sell
In recent years, Ford has sold off valuable assets, including Aston Martin and Hertz Rentals. They're currently flogging Land Rover and Jaguar to India's Tata Motors (fingers crossed). Although Ford's got plenty of cash for the time being– having mortgaged itself up to the eyeballs in '06 for $23b– the American automaker's just about out of stuff to sell. So is Ford is going to have to face the music and… start selling cars? Analysts quoted in the International Herald Tribune say you got that right. John Casesa claims Ford couldn't get diddly squat for Mercury (who?), Ford Financial or Volvo. That's because "interest from private equity companies had pushed takeover prices sky-high, but the credit squeeze that began last year has made it harder for those companies to borrow, forcing asset prices down." Oh, and Ford Financial is staring at a credit meltdown and Volvo isn't making any money. In fact, Ford wrote down about $2.4b of the Swedish brand's value in January. So there really is nothing left for Ford to do but make and sell profitable vehicles in the North American market. What are the odds? (Hint: check the stock price.)
More by Edward Niedermeyer
Comments
Join the conversation
You are right about that Bamford deal Katiepuckrik but what the heck to we really know. I saw where Tata was going to immediately offload Jag when they settled. What about Mazda? Pretty successful as of late but do they contribute to Ford coffers? Apparently not. Different companies and cultures under one umbrella probably lets lots of cash slip through cracks
Ford could sell their souls by doing a different "special edition" Mustang every month. Oh wait, never mind.
Ford would be better off selling Volvo, Jag and getting rid of the fabulous Mercury brand. Lincoln still has a quite the brand heritage and potential if they would stop taking fords and re badging them with fake aluminum interiors, and actually separating the Lincolns from fords then they have a chance. A lincoln should NEVER drive or sound like a ford does, they should be complete opposite of each other. Its sad to see the Koreans building a better luxury car (Genesis) than the FoMoCo. The mustang and F150 are the only two real products with loyalty they sell. The Fusion and new Taurus are "Ok" but not up to Asian standards. I cant believe that I am saying this but the focus should just be a rebadged Mazda 3 with good styling (not the monster they are selling now). If they can promise a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty and build vehicles with the highest standards possible then they can survive but we know that won't happen.
Ford could use the same platform for both the new Continental and build the interceptor concept as the next Crown Vic and there goes any worries about spreading the development costs. Of course, they should make each look as close to their concepts as they can. Not two slab-sided cars or two rounded edge cars with different badges.