Does ford need a new CEO?

[mc01svt]

Has anyone noticed ford stock has been sliding for the past couple years even while the DOW continues to hit record levels? Plus, auto industry sales growth has been stellar lately. What is it about ford that has investors running for the hills? When Mark Fields made statements last year about ford becoming a "technology" company instead of a pure automotive manufacturer it scared even more shareholders away. I don't think the consumers care about FordPass, Sync, mobility services, ride sharing, spotify,..etc. Sometimes you have to stick with your bread and butter (f-150, superduty, explorer, mustang).

Morgan Stanley recently issued a report saying that Ford will drop another 11% over the next year.
https://www.thestreet.com/story/140...ck-should-drop-another-11-over-12-months.html

Maybe time for some changes in upper management? Investors have lost out 30% of their equity since Fields took over. I don't remember a time in the last 10yrs where there was more talk/excitement about GM and Chrysler products on this forum.

 

[Zemedici]

You've also got to think about how Ford is going about their new models powerplants.


'Top tier' mustang is NA and makes less than 500whp, while dodge had a 650whp hellcat and GM has the C7Z06s and ZL1s.

The Ford GT has an ecoboost in it.

I believe There are more ecoboost F150s than V8s.

Call it what you will. Imo Ford is straying from what has worked for so so long. I always go by the notion 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'


In addition, Ford QC is not what it has been. Look at all of the fitment issues on the S550s, including shelbys, and newer F150/F250s.

 

[SirShaun]

Ford is going European. Crepes instead of pancakes type shit. I would totally trade the Ford CEO for the Dodge CEO right about now.

Although I just saw an article on this site about Ford researching carbon fiber chassis. Some hope restored.

 

[Blk04L]

Ford is going European. Crepes instead of pancakes type shit. I would totally trade the Ford CEO for the Dodge CEO right about now.

Although I just saw an article on this site about Ford researching carbon fiber chassis. Some hope restored.

Don't you say it, Ricky. These colors don't run.

Anyways, I keep on delaying on selling off my remaining Ford stock. That MS prediction may finally motivate me to do so.

 

[CV355]

I don't think the consumers care about FordPass, Sync, mobility services, ride sharing, spotify,..etc. Sometimes you have to stick with your bread and butter (f-150, superduty, explorer, mustang).

I would rather see a company improve their design and manufacturing efficiency for higher reliability and lower cost through less frequent iterations than watch them add all sorts of techno-bullshit to every vehicle.

I absolutely despise electronics in vehicles. EFI is where I draw the line. Anything beyond that belongs in the trash in my opinion. Cut that junk out, reduce the cost, improve reliability. All this extra garbage does is increase distracted driving and put the focus on everything EXCEPT driving. No wonder so much of the population has ADHD. Any consumer who bases their entire vehicle purchase off Bluetooth or social media connectivity is as bad a single issue voter and probably shouldn't be allowed to breed.

In the entire time I have owned cars, I have spent at least 10x more on electronic BS failing than any mechanical components.

tl;dr: **** Electronics

 

[IronSnake]

Bought a brand new S550 PP 6 speed car. Garage kept. Took immaculate care of it. Had 5k on it when I sold it. Detailing on a particularly sunny day revealed they painted the hood very thin and in the contours of the hood you could actually see primer/sealer under the paint. It made the hood look like a shiny fade.

Needless to say, I sold it to someone who didn't care and got bit by the S550 bug. Loved that car, but quality control was awful. I won't be buying another new ford.

 

[SID297]

Bought a brand new S550 PP 6 speed car. Garage kept. Took immaculate care of it. Had 5k on it when I sold it. Detailing on a particularly sunny day revealed they painted the hood very thin and in the contours of the hood you could actually see primer/sealer under the paint. It made the hood look like a shiny fade.

Needless to say, I sold it to someone who didn't care and got bit by the S550 bug. Loved that car, but quality control was awful. I won't be buying another new ford.

The thing that drives me nuts is that they know it's bad and haven't corrected it.

 

[DHG1078]

You guys are way off mark. Ford North America has been subsidizing Ford Europe and Ford Asia for a long time. Ford Europe is an absolute money pit for an eternity in this industry, and only recently have they started breaking even. They are still investing in markets that other companies are pulling out of in the hopes of keeping a huge market share in those markets when they turn around.

Ford also holds a lot of debt when financing to buyers in the states. I know all the other companies do too, but I don't know if they Ford holds more debt for financing customers or not.

 

[Dirks9901]

You've also got to think about how Ford is going about their new models powerplants.


'Top tier' mustang is NA and makes less than 500whp, while dodge had a 650whp hellcat and GM has the C7Z06s and ZL1s.

The Ford GT has an ecoboost in it.

I believe There are more ecoboost F150s than V8s.

Call it what you will. Imo Ford is straying from what has worked for so so long. I always go by the notion 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'


In addition, Ford QC is not what it has been. Look at all of the fitment issues on the S550s, including shelbys, and newer F150/F250s.

I agree with all this personally.

To me, i would think the average person doesn't care to much about power plant configurations. But on a large scale, I'm sure it's turned plenty of buyers away.

There is also 0 excitement coming out of FoMc imo. Nothing really interests me except the bronco and I'm expecting a let down there with mediocre styling and another ecoboost motor shoved down peoples throats. But we'll see. To me, ford is pretty bland right now.

There marketing is horrible, but its been like that for years now.




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[DHG1078]

Ford's sales are also dipping slightly currently, and they aren't projecting record sales numbers, but they are making more money per car than they were just a year ago. I think the average transaction price is up $2500 or so. So earnings are up, but sales are down.

At least thats what I was reading not too long ago.

 

[svtfocus2cobra]

You can complain about Ford quality all day long but it isn't just them. When you are talking about the more mainstream automakers, quality is not always up to par to what most of us would expect. I see all the new cars from a new Mitsubishi Mirage to brand new Range Rovers, Porsches and Maseratis. Out of all of those vehicles Ford is very much in the middle to higher end of quality against the other like-brands.

All of the brands have their little quality issues and quirks from the factory, bit without a doubt Chrysler is the worst... hands down. Fiat was the worst single thing to happen to the Chrysler brand.

Ford may be slipping now but I would stick with them. The industry is not going to stay the way it is and the way we are used to it for much longer. Ford is going to be ahead of the curve when the industry changes.

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[DHG1078]

Their entire model range will be completely changed in 5 years. We will hardly recognize them.

Hybrid mustangs, all electric SUV's, hybrid F-150, etc.

 

[VenomVeins]

I would rather see a company improve their design and manufacturing efficiency for higher reliability and lower cost through less frequent iterations than watch them add all sorts of techno-bullshit to every vehicle.

I absolutely despise electronics in vehicles. EFI is where I draw the line. Anything beyond that belongs in the trash in my opinion. Cut that junk out, reduce the cost, improve reliability. All this extra garbage does is increase distracted driving and put the focus on everything EXCEPT driving. No wonder so much of the population has ADHD. Any consumer who bases their entire vehicle purchase off Bluetooth or social media connectivity is as bad a single issue voter and probably shouldn't be allowed to breed.

In the entire time I have owned cars, I have spent at least 10x more on electronic BS failing than any mechanical components.

tl;dr: **** Electronics

+65,000

Was strongly considering buying a 2015/16 Mustang GT and decided to rent one for the 3 weeks I was in Maui last month.

By the second week, I loathed it. Waaaaaaay too much electronic bullshit to **** around with (and thats coming from someone who owns a lexus IS350!), and the driving experience doesn't come close to the Terminator (yeah, I said it)

No way in hell one of those ends up in my driveway....just like no way in hell i purchase ford company stock.

"Boring" is the operative word here. Nothing Ford puts out (other than the Raptor, which is kickass) does anything for me.

 

[AustinSN]

Ford is going European. Crepes instead of pancakes type shit. I would totally trade the Ford CEO for the Dodge CEO right about now.

Although I just saw an article on this site about Ford researching carbon fiber chassis. Some hope restored.

The CEO of FCA is a ****ing nightmare. You should do some research into what he is trying to do with the company. He went to GM to try to pawn it off on them, who said "F that" and then went to VW, who didn't like that idea either. I give him props for bringing the Guila back but other than that, it doesn't seem like he is in it for the long haul.

I have an idea of what he is doing, he is trying to fluff up the company, create a merger with a strong automaker to sky rocket his stock options with the company and walk away with an extra few hundred million.

As for the original post, I can't believe you guys don't see how cyclical this is. Every time a manufacturer comes out with a new car, everyone goes nuts and says how well the company is doing. Remember the C7Z? GT350R? Hellcat? Of course Dodge and Chevy are the only ones we are talking about, they are the only ones with new cars coming out. Once the GT500 hits, it will be the same song and dance.

I'm not sure I agree with Ford on their movement into the technology world, but I can see what they are trying to do. They want to catch this movement before it booms. I work in the insurance industry and it's become a concern, within the next few decades, electric self driving cars will be the vast majority.

 

[cbj5259]

Eh...does it really matter? In 20 years we will all be getting chauffeured around in autonomous electric vehicles. There will be roads that are designated for "human driven cars" but the majority of roads will be for car-bots. Driving enthusiasts face a bleak future.

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[svtfocus2cobra]

Exactly. The industry is changing fast. Just working with Enterprise, the manufacturers are pressuring them to pressure the shops they work with into new certification requirements and acquiring new equipmemt that has been co-developed with the manufacturers in order to communicate with the onboard systems across the board. The manufacturers have stated in the past and have actually hinted at pushing for legislation that would only allow the dealers to repair vehicles in the future because of the growing complexity of the technology and the materials in the vehicles. They know this will never happen because it would eventually put a lot of private shops out of business so they are pushing where they can to make shops get up to par on new certifications so we can properly repair the newest products. We are in the process of creating a profile for them that details the exact equipment we have and our capabilities with our techs, so with that only certain vehicles we be able to go to certain shops.

This is happening now in preparation for what is coming down the pipeline. The whole industry is going to change here in the next 5 years to something completely different than what we are used to.

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[Snagged]

I agree with all this personally.

To me, i would think the average person doesn't care to much about power plant configurations. But on a large scale, I'm sure it's turned plenty of buyers away.

There is also 0 excitement coming out of FoMc imo. Nothing really interests me except the bronco and I'm expecting a let down there with mediocre styling and another ecoboost motor shoved down peoples throats. But we'll see. To me, ford is pretty bland right now.

There marketing is horrible, but its been like that for years now.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well lets not forget the GT350 and not so long ago GT500. Some killer cars in their own field of performance. I'm sure we will have some exciting things coming down the pipe here soon.

And it does seem Ford is just trying to stay ahead of the curve with all their latest changes. Can't fault for them that I suppose but hopefully they don't lose their focus.

 

[ON D BIT]

There's a lot of general complaints but very few details.

Sales past 10 years. Or comparison between Mullaly and Fields?
Profits reports last few years.

I feel Ford is absolutely going in the right direction. QC issues I have not seen. What specifically are we talking about?

 

[SID297]

The things you don't hear about in the news is the corporate culture. That's where the real story is.

 

[lastcall190]

Able to elaborate?