Ford: Let's Hear It for 2010!

The core car lineup is pretty solid as it is. The small car Focus is selling very well, just like all small cars, but as evidenced even by a recent review in TTAC, it is a decent all around car and does have some innovative features that are attracting buyers. The Fusion/Milan/MKZ are all fun, well built vehicles in the segment, and while maybe not blowing up the charts like the Camry, you don't have to be #1 in sales to be making a profit. The Taurus/Sable are great cars handicapped by overly conservative styling and a mixed legacy in the name. In the Taurus you can get a 265hp 28mpg large car with tons of head, hip, leg, and trunk room plus 5 star safety ratings all the way around in the mid 20s range before incentives. They handle well for big cars, give better road feel than the Avalon or Lucerne, and have interiors that are well put together, and though not living room quality, don't appear cheap. The Crown Victoria is still numero uno in fleet sales for police/taxis/etc, and the Grand Marquis has a loyal following coming into it's encore final year of production amongst the early bird special afficianados of the world. The Escape is the 2nd best selling small crossover nationwide, only behind the Honda CR-V, and the '09 models, as noted above, only make it better with more power and better fuel economy, plus Sync is finally offered. The Edge/TaurusX/Flex all have their strengths and weaknesses, but overall are just suffering from the industry wide aversion to anything SUV like. The Explorer/Expedition measure up well against any competition in the large SUV field, but again, no one is buying large SUVs. And with the F-150, while truck sales have plummeted all around, at least around here Ford is offering far less in the way of rebates/discounts/specials than Dodge/GM/Nissan dealerships, yet we are still selling just as many if not more trucks as any of them. The way the industry is right now, doing well pretty much equates to sucking less, and Ford is sucking less than most others out there.

At least Ford seems to have a plan. GM, not so much. At some point, if Ford can pull this off, their stock becomes a buy. Not willing to pull the trigger on the stock yet though...too many eggs in the F150 basket today and the Ecoboost basket tomorrow. I can't see any situation where I would buy GM stock since I can't see any situation with them digging themselves out of their hole. Or, for that matter, Toyota stock, since total domination is already factored into the share price.

Ford continues to have the best prospects of the 2.8. For one thing, the F150 has survived the Tundra challenge without taking any visible hits. Toyota is already fading fast in the pickup market while the F150 remains the market leader. Sure the whole segment is way down, but it isn't going to disappear. How many companies have survived a full on frontal attack from Toyota and walked away barely bruised? All the Tundra seems to really have accomplished is to put a fork in the Titan. Now Toyota is sitting on a big expensive new factory in San Antonio which only has large BOF trucks in it's repertoire. Even Nissan didn't make THAT mistake.

I think the Tundra is a great Truck, Comparing mpg's it Blows away the F-150, But when you look at Bare Bones equipment on both, Toyota gives an edge, but I think most people that get pick ups want middle of the line or top... and in that area, FORD KICKS ASS AND TAKES NAMES! Honestly I think Toyota has tried to kill FORD, BUT IT AIN"T GONNA HAPPEN! In the last 2 to 3 years I think FO.MO.CO has really stepped up to the the plate and delivered some great base hits, and a Home run with the Fusion! The focus is good, A solid entry sedan, I can't think of one thing it does badly. The fusion is EXCELLENT with it's AWD.(I live in snow country, USA) - The only competition is Subaru and Volvo, and both have BIG price hikes for similar equipment. The Escape is the perfect size SUV, It is about the size the explorer was in the 90's I think. (possibly smaller) But that size is perfect. With better Milage, which is in the works... It may be a HO.MO.CO beater when it comes to SUV's. The trucks (SUV's) are dinosaurs, but i think they (FORD) have realized that they shot themselves in the foot. Explorer, Expedition, EXCURSION... That excursion was the dumbest idea of them all!! If Ford can bring the Euro-Focus to the states, and add AWD, THAT IS MY NEXT CAR, NO IF's AND's or BUTT's!!!! Because I love Ford, But I love the previous generation Subaru Impreza Sport even more! I loved my first Car, It was A 1997 Ford Explorer XLT, with leather seats, actually leather everything! And it had a great Factory Stereo system! The only thing was that it drank gas like... A Ford Explorer. ... I put 70,000 miles onto that car, I bought it used. But one day an asshole ran a red light and T-boned my baby. I was in the car with my mom, dad, and my dog in the back... everyone was fine, except i flipped out on the other guy who caused the accident, The officers had to pull me off him, He had to have been doing 50 in a 30 in a down town city center. The car was totaled, and i made sure the other guy didn't walk away unscathed. No charges were pressed for the assault. (gave him a beauty of a shiner!) The officer at the scene was luckily my neighbor and he did the right thing convincing the man not to press charges. I had freaked out, That man could have killed me or anyone else in the car! The officers told me they suspected he was on drugs, I guess he turned out to be a heroin addict. But on a lighter note... That shows Ford's commitment to crash test safety!