This is a rather hypothetical question, but I hear more and more opinions that Ford will most likely be sold or merged in the end. Do you think this is the only salvation for the company? No one knows what will happen in the future, but to me it sounds like a pretty incredible scenario in the near future.
15 replies (most recent on top)
Work trucks, fullsize vans, fleet vehicles.
If they can build them and they run, they'll sell.
No one would want to work with the F family after a merger .Bankruptcy is the only way.
"Now we are giving away the truck market to GM with all the failed launches"
Actually, the Toyota Tacoma is way ahead of Ford and GM in sales.
They will be around. Maybe not JF. They could sell vehicles if they could build them with all of the parts. They could sell more if they could stock the lots. If you need a vehicle, many times you need it now, not 6 months from now.
https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1iRIQR65
Bankruptcy is the only way forward. No one will buy or merge with Ford due to the special status of Fiord family stock. Would be unworkable for them to keep that stock and sell the company- too many conflicts on interest.
Get your money out now of Ford while you can; you may not be able to latrr. In many ways, my being let go recently was a blessing.
@1kuk+1iRIQR65
Nice work putting these numbers together! They should be emailed to Farley, Bill Ford, Lawler, and phoebe at the Free Ford Press, just in case your post is removed before they visit this site.
@1oov+1iRIQR65: Farley and his team showed that they think of Ford employees back last February. That one week first the bonus and the excuses them JF opening his mouth tells you the story. I still cannot find a good accomplishment JF or BF has done?
BF -CEO 01-06 Fired by his own family. Alan come sin to save the company. Bill was put to the side.
JF. SCION Yeah.. that did not go so well. At Ford that is blank. I will not give him credit for the Maverick that was planned before Hackett or JF became CEO. Since the fall of 2020 on the products planned after that will tell his story. Up to now he has only proven he cannot be trusted, boring, arrogant, legend in his own mind. Guy lacks Karma. No one will go to war with him. He ki---d that last February. Billy when i listen to him i wander how he made it to COB? His name is his only qualification.
So, In JFs own words. since both JF and BF are over 55 can they be trained?
@1oov+1iRIQR65 "I sure hope you are paying attention to what the company is telling and showing you. It's all there right in front."
The company is telling, but what is showing doesn't match what is telling. Here are the EV sales numbers of August 2022:
Ford Mustang Mach-E: 3,120
Ford F-150 Lightning: 2,373
Ford E-Transit: 404
Total: 5,897
And we are expecting to sell 2 million BEVs in 2026 (already postponed one year)? Right
BTW, I am still expecting the subscription revenue numbers. Ford is being very secretive about those numbers, even when they celebrated publicly every time Fartley goes to the bathroom (A.K.A open his mouth).
Anybody still sure that Ford can recoup the $50 Billions invested in EVs with subscriptions and EV sales?
Other numbers from the same month:
Ford Truck sales: 83,347
Ford SUV sales: 71,201
Ford Total sales (Including BEVs): 158,088
Wow! The numbers are so great (if you listen to Ford PR) and up more than 20% from last year (which was the crappiest year). Let's take a closer look at August sales:
Year=Sales
2016=204,168
2017=200,321
2018=208,755
2019=187,712
2020=175,527
2021=118,189
So, sales last month were the second weakest sales in the last 6 years or more. What am I supposed to celebrate here?
Do you want more "showing"? Let's see what the numbers say:
- FMC market share has gone down continually from 15.42% in 2013, to 12% last year.
- Since 2015, our sales growth has been negative.
While most of our competitors do well in other markets, Ford falls flat outside NA. Even GM does better in China than FMC. The NA market is very competitive, and Ford is losing its share of it.
We should be improving our line up, not destroying it to create a new one. We should be striving to be FORD, not Tesla. We should be paying the most attention to our ICE market, not trying to compete in a niche market against an established player.
I disagree. Ford will stand strong. That is why we are going through the company transformation to the digital space and obtaining new leadership to keep us on that track. Precisely why. I sure hope you are paying attention to what the company is telling and showing you. It's all there right in front.
Fully agree with all 5 points listed by the previous commenter. Even great companies rarely last longer than 100 years..Sears and Kodak are perfect examples. No one outside of the industry will miss Ford, the execs only care about their stock price and could care less if the retirees say "I will never by another Ford", pensions are waaaay underfunded and likely going to be foisted on the govt bailout pension guarantee fund. The company will be parcelled out and sold off to other global companies for pennies on the dollar (like we did with Volvo and like GM did with Opel) and the train station will likely be utilized perhaps to 25% of it's usable space if that.
It is much easier to improve existing models than creat new ones. Continuous improvement is what the Japanese have been doing for years. They fix the known bugs and the reliability score improves. This is common sense which is lacking in so many institutions today.
To the 1st response. Bill may get what he wished for!
@OP. FMC has been losing market share and knowledgeable employees since Hackett, and it shows in the revenue amount and the number of recalls.
What people like you, OP, seem to forget, is that we are going through really hard times, and these can really tip the scales:
1-. Increase competition from new car manufacturing companies in US (Tesla, Rivian)
2-. Increase competition from Chinese car manufacturing companies in China and soon in America (Ford's biggest market).
3-. Multiple start up companies, in NA and the world, competing with FMC for similar resources (software, labor, chips, parts, raw materials, etc.)
4-. Inflation, recession, broken and stressed supply chains, high valued USD.
5-. Paradigm shifts like self driving cars, AI, IoT, Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology, that increase the complexity in manufacturing, researching or production support.
In the middle of all that, when FMC needed a great mind and an steady hand guiding the company, we got first a furniture guy, and now a legend on his own mind.
It is really hard to gain market share because all companies are fighting and competing for that. What did Ford do? Give away the sedan market. Now we are giving away the truck market to GM with all the failed launches, numerous recalls, quality issues, lack of parts. Whatever the excuses from Farley, the reality is FMC has been the automotive company that suffered the most with these issues due to incompetent management.
The main issue that I see here is that we are not even trying to correct our mistakes, but doubling down on those. We prefer to develop new models, which are known to have a lot of glitches, than fix the current quality issues. We keep promoting clueless managers. We keep hiring upper management and letting go needed experienced technical people.
FMC is a large company with a huge value, but even large companies (think Sears, Kodak) can go down. The larger the company, the longer it will take, but sooner or later, FMC will be worth nothing. I am expecting some company, maybe European, maybe Chinese, will buy the truck division, and that would be what will be left from a once known company. We'll see the FMC example taught in business classes at universities as what not to do.
I feel sorry for all the NA employees fired, for all the employees losing their jobs soon, but not even if Bill Ford is removed, along with Farley and all his "yes men", I still believe FMC is already doomed. If you want proof, just wait until the company has to repay the $50 billion dollars EV investment with subscriptions and EV sales.
BF has always said he would rather go down with the ship than to sell it.