https://www.ccn.com/next-recession-can-bankrupt-ford-motor-company/
4 replies (most recent on top)
it is not necessarily a bad strategy to sell high-margin trucks and SUVs, the intent is Ford can really build up a lot of sales and profit by doing so. The weak part of the strategy is this "play to our strengths" mindset which actually means we abandon any segment and every segment that's hard to compete in, like small or medium-sized cars, or actually anything affordable or high-value. That's where the competitors are winning all day long with the value they offer. Time will tell, but 95% of what Ford offers is unaffordable/ poor value to me as a senior employee, so I don't think it's the right direction.
I get it as I was also SRD’d and it’s given me a new attitude about work ethic. If working long and hard, being helpful and productive and getting great performance reviews means nothing but nearing a pension milestone can cost your your job I’m just a bit raw about ford. I still don’t want to see ford go bust because I have many friends there and want them to continue doing well. The local economy is tightly coupled with ford and that would have a crippling ripple effect. I fear this article could be accurate but I do hope it’s wrong.
@1cpi Ford has all but abandoned their car lines. All they sell is gas guzzling SUVs and trucks. (Something I don't need.) If a recession hits, those sales will get hit hard because people will go to companies that have vehicles that get good gas mileage. It becomes a domino effect where car sales could be impacted and then flows along the supply lines. Even a small recession will be impactful.
- S. I was part of the Ford SRD. Even if I was considering buying a Ford to support the company, as mentioned, they got rid of most of their car line which pushed me out of the Ford market.
Hopefully not. Ford did much better in the Great Recession than GM and Chrysler and that was (hopefully) a once in a lifetime kind of recession. They would likely survive a more normal recession but I’m not confident the current senior leadership could successfully navigate another serious downturn.