two_bit_score
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What he was saying is that Ford got down to business and did the things it needed to do when the economy was still strong enough to keep volume up and to arrange financing when cash was available. They also did a few other things: Bill Ford found someone else to run the company, they revamped their lines (including in Europe), etc. Mazda (as I recall, the board is controlled by Ford) also got into the same cycle (many Ford products are either significantly engineered by Mazda, or influenced by Mazda components -- like the Ranger).
Timing is everything.
Timing is everything.
FlaDon
Platinum Member
Ford could still get into trouble as they sold off their assets to get the money needed to stay out of bankrupcy. Ford has dumped carlines to stay afloat like GM/Chrysler. Ford is canning the Mercury line like GM did Pontiac.
GM trucks pulled ahead of Ford in capacity and Ford had to offer an upgrade to the programming to get ahead on HP but still loses to GM in towing capacity in 3500 series trucks. Ford will now be offering boxed frames in their trucks, after GM already has them out. Looks like Ford is having to play catchup. Next up will be Dodge trying to get ahead of both. Winner is the consumer in the long run.
coobie
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A good read at PickupTrucks.com: Pickup Truck News, Reviews, Community and Help Finding a New or Used Pickup 2010 truck shootout. coobie
Diamondpilot
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You hit the nail on the head. All this coulda, woulda, shoulda talk makes me laugh. Ford made tough decisions and changed the management to make things right. Yes, they got lucky but like everyone knows timing is everything. Does not matter if its realestate or trucks.
Now as far as GM goes they are on the 4th CEO in 18 months. I have seen that happen before and by the 24th month I was out of a job.
GM did things right on this truck, I will applaud them for that. The question is will anyone buy it. Sure some will but many will not even look that way.
As for Fords truck the upgrade is not only to the HP but also raises the GVWR and the GCWR by 500# so that should put them back on top in the tow rating category. Its a little too late tough, everyone knows they are playing catchup instead of leading the pack like they had done for so many years. I can not for the life of me understand why if they were building a new engine they just did not blow everyone out of the water and go for 500Hp and 1000 Ft Tq????? They left too much to chance and now its biting them in the azz.
Chris
This is one of the most accurate posts in this thread. It has also been my experience that all the trucks that I have driven have been great and they have all come a long way from heavy duty pickups of even ten years ago in almost every way.
And Diamondpilot, please don't give GM, Ford or Dodge any ideas about building a diesel with 500 horsepower and 1000 pounds feet of torque, at least not yet. Everybody I know would rather they all concentrate on gains in fuel economy before concentrating on more power as they already make way more power than just about anyone needs. The only complaint I hear frequently from the guys I know who own the heavy duty diesel pickups is how crappy the fuel economy is on them now. Half of them have also said that they won't buy a diesel for their next truck at this point as the gas engines will do everything that the diesels will do for them but getter fuel economy doing it. When it was my turn to tow the sleds on this one trip last year, one of the guys couldn't believe that my 5.3 Liter V8 equipped Silverado 1500 got better mileage towing the 4 place trailer than his 2006 Ford F350 with the 6.0 Liter Power Stroke.
As for the whole bailout thing and timing being everything in the case of Ford, etc. etc. I feel pretty confident that nobody's opinion is going to be changed on here, so lets keep things civil (as it pretty much has been anyway) so that we can keep this thread from getting locked. I think the arguments basically come down in the same vein as which brand someone prefers, in other words, it is what it is and nobody is going to change it. By the way I'm not a fan of bailouts either. I am confident that GM and Chrysler would likely have been able to reorganize as much smaller companies after filing for bankruptcy in the event that bailout funds weren't given to either company. Politics wouldn't allow for that though as it would have meant that the UAW contracts would have been invalidated and their pension responsibilities would have been diminished; It also would have meant that a bunch of executives at the top of these companies wouldn't have been obligated to receive their golden parachute pension packages too. The politicians would never risk alienating their supporters by letting that happen. At the end of the day I know that my wife and I do pretty well for ourselves financially but even we can't afford strict, blind brand allegiance. I haven't paid for anything more than routine maintenance and tires on any of my last GM vehicles so I know that would definitely count in GM's favor for me, but at the same time if Ford or Dodge or for that matter Toyota or Nissan were better able to get the job done for me, I'd buy them. I almost bought a Toyota Tundra this time as it was.