Bailout Watch 438: Ford Picks Up Sales on Chrysler/GM Bailout Backlash

Oh, the previous gen Focus was solid. It's the current generation where they screwed up in the styling department. I also think it was a crime to kill off the Focus wagon, but I blame the consumer for abandoning compact station wagons.

Katie, Alan Mulally did go with the intent of getting bailout bucks, requesting a line of credit as a way to stay afloat if the market continued to worsen or crashed by GM and/or Chrysler went down. But in the second hearing when it was revealed that the actual bailout was being held at the end of this March, and the companies are just going to get what they need to be stable until that time, Mulally just closed his briefcase and left with nothing, opting out of the bailout game. GM and Chrysler then grabbed up the bailout bucks to stay alive to see 2009, and the rest is history. I know you hate Ford Katie, but you can't fault any of the moves they have been making since Mulally took over. They are the only one of the big three that are actually trying to turn around. Instead of being like GM, who kept everything the same, made a bunch of different excuses as to why they had Toyota's foot in their ass (Remember "Import bigotry"?), and then went crying to the government when their dumbass moves finally caught up with them.

My wife and I saw a Ford Flex in the parking lot of the hotel we were staying at a couple of weekends ago, and she asked me what car it was. She was very impressed wiht its appearance inside and out. Though it's not really our type of vehicle, it impressed me and my wife in the styling Department. Another poster alluded to an interesting possibility. What if these bailout dollars to GM and Chrysler force Ford to file for bankruptcy while only postponing the inevitable for GM and Chrysler. Anybody care to explain how that would benefit the country? These bailouts primarily benefit the top dogs at the subject corporations. If they failed, others - hopefully others who are better at running a manufacturing company - would step in and fill the void through increased sales by the remaining car companies and through one or two new companies buying the manufacturing plants and possibly the name and logo (Cadillac, Chevy, and Jeep still have some value).

"Subpoenaed. He was subpoenaed." Did you listen to what he was saying? He fully supported the bailout.