Ford expected to announce 25,000 job cuts Monday (AFP)

[Anchor Man]

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rs....com/s/afp/20060122/ts_afp/usautofordadvancerAFP - Ford Motor Company is expected to announce plans to cut 25,000 jobs and several plants on Monday but analysts are warning the move will not be sufficient to allow the automaker to return its struggling North American unit to profitability.


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[a6m5]

The plants that are most vulnerable to closure are: the Twin Cities plant in Minneapolis, Minnesota which produces the Ford Ranger and Mazda B-series; the St Thomas plant in Canada which produces the Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis; the St Louis, Missouri plant which produces the Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer; the Cuautitlan, Mexico plant which builds the F-Series trucks.

Other vulnerable plants include the Wixom, Michigan facility which produces the Lincoln LS and the Atlanta, Georgia plant which produces the Taurus, Lindland said.

Looks like most of the suspected plants aren't producing anything important for Ford currently anyway. Rangers seem to sell OK, but they are being discounted pretty heavily and the F-Series plant in Mexico......... better in Mexico than here in the States.

Also according to the article, Ford is making a move from the SUV segment to cars. With the Mustang leading the way, I do like the effort Ford is making. I do wish they study cars like the Hondas little more closely and learn from them. One of the things I don't like about Ford vehicles are the clumsy controls from the driver's seat.

 

[Joey D]

They still produce the Taurus? Why in God's name would they do that? The Fusion is about a trillion times better.

But the Ranger hasn't be redesigned in forever, the Crown Vic is losing out on police and taxi sales, and the Explorer is just ugly.

The F-Series is still selling well though.

 

[a6m5]

They still produce the Taurus? Why in God's name would they do that? The Fusion is about a trillion times better.

But the Ranger hasn't be redesigned in forever, the Crown Vic is losing out on police and taxi sales, and the Explorer is just ugly.

The F-Series is still selling well though.

I think Ford is stopping production of Taurus in March. Just like the Crown Vics, I think majority of the Taurus sales these days are fleet sales.

 

[Ev0]

Taurses are only sold in fleet sales now. I hope they get rid of the Taurus completely; it's an afwul car.

 

[niky]

@a6m5: I've got a Ford, and the controls are just fine... whoops, no, it's a Mazda. But seriously, the controls for the new Focus fall more easily to hand than in any other compact I've been in.

@Ev0: The Taurus was a good car when it came out. Ford just rode it into the ground by not updating the styling or refinement in any way that mattered, up until the point where they relegated it to fleet sales... which was when it truly became awful.

We still get the Ranger here, BTW... a true dinosaur, but it sells well because it's simple.

I wonder if this all means Ford's plans to get out of the discount fleet market are well underway? It's about time. Sorry for those workers, but this has been a long time coming.

 

[a6m5]

@a6m5: I've got a Ford, and the controls are just fine... whoops, no, it's a Mazda. But seriously, the controls for the new Focus fall more easily to hand than in any other compact I've been in.

It's kinda hard to believe, but I still haven't driven a Focus! But out of the '05 lineup, I drove the F-150 and 500(fullsize sedan), and I hated the controls. They should really copy the way Japanese makes the use of the multi-function switches.

 

[niky]

No big loss for you... the "old" Focus that you still get in the US doesn't have the same interior as the "new" one we get in Europe and Asia. And if the current US Focus still has the same interior as the Focus taxis in Singapore... it sucks.

Sucks about the Five Hundred, then... that's a brand new car.

 

[FoolKiller]

Not a single worker shoudl really be surprised by this, especially the Taurus and Crown Vic lines. It has been public knowledge that Ford has struggled and the stock was heading downhill. When the car you are making is being replaced by a redesign of a Mazda (Fusion) that is made elsewhere you should pretty much be able to see the neon sign telling you to start job hunting.

 

[a6m5]

As everyone's heard by now, Ford did make the announcement today. I guess the layoff could be as high as 30,000 workers. Most of the workers I've seen being interviewed by the media were teary eyed.

 

[Joey D]

I bet they will still get a good deal of there pay.

 

[a6m5]

I think it was ABC News that reported that Ford is paying for the health care of their retired employees, which cost them about $1,000 for every vehicle they sell. That is just insane!

 

[Joey D]

Ya the UAW pretty much screwed the car companies years ago during contract signings...but shame on the auto companies for allowing it. But then again there was little choice I guess.

 

[FoolKiller]

I think it was ABC News that reported that Ford is paying for the health care of their retired employees, which cost them about $1,000 for every vehicle they sell. That is just insane!

$1,000 is nothing. According to Motor Trend GM pays a little over $2,300 per vehicle into healthcare. You are talking nearly 10% of gross profits.



I am of the opinion that the American car companies should hang on to all their foreign companies but then merge all their American companies into one. I don't need a Fusion/Milan/Zephyr. Give me one car and then make then different with sports/luxury packages and the such. Instead of putting different design teams on making three cars from one have one good design team make one good car. Maybe then we can get some innovatiove designs and on a cheaper budget.

Oh, and a note to both GM and Ford, you can't sell an entire line on the popularity of one car. No matter how many times you flash up a Mustang or Corvette your crappy little car is still a crappy little car.

Ford could learn from Mazda. When Mazda did a redesign of the whole line I realized I liked them all. When Ford or GM can do that then they will see that their sales increase.

Well, reliability is always important too.

 

[a6m5]

$1,000 is nothing. According to Motor Trend GM pays a little over $2,300 per vehicle into healthcare. You are talking nearly 10% of gross profits.

Can you lend me a hand, picking back up my jaw?

I am of the opinion that the American car companies should hang on to all their foreign companies but then merge all their American companies into one. I don't need a Fusion/Milan/Zephyr.

I do kinda see your point of view on that, but I do think GM do that better than Ford does. I've never been fans of the Mercury clones of the Ford cars. Mountaineer, Sable, Tracers. I did like the 80's - 90's Cougars, however.

 

[FoolKiller]

I do kinda see your point of view on that, but I do think GM do that better than Ford does. I've never been fans of the Mercury clones of the Ford cars. Mountaineer, Sable, Tracers. I did like the 80's - 90's Cougars, however.

I just get tired of Ford/Lincoln/Mercury all having the same car with different stylings when Toyota and Honda just label then DX, LX, EX etc. They only differentiate brands for luxury and/or region.

Could you imagine if a Dodge badge got slapped on a Mercedes? Just because one company owns it all doesn't mean you should just have one car.

GM got better after they eliminated the Camaro variants.

With any luck all this market change will mean better American cars down the road.

 

[Ev0]

GM got better after they eliminated the Camaro variants.

No they haven't. GM sells the same minivan under 4 different names currently.

 

[FoolKiller]

No they haven't. GM sells the same minivan under 4 different names currently.

I said better, not perfect.

But that is something I wasn't aware of. I never look at minivans. Maybe a few years down the road I will have a kid and notice them more.

 

[Joey D]

GM Mini Vans = Teh Suck

 

[Tornado]

No they haven't. GM sells the same minivan under 4 different names currently.

And the same sport ute under a total of 7 (not concurrently, but still, 7!).
As an aside, I'm sure that $50 million squandered on the super bowl would have better gone into preventing this.