Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Car maker Ford Motor Co is drawing up plans to retool American plants to make small, fuel-efficient passenger cars that it mainly makes and sells in Europe, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
      The paper said Ford has looked at bringing over European models, including the mid-size Mondeo, in response to high fuel costs that have hit sales of larger, fuel-hungry trucks and sport utility vehicles.
      Citing people familiar with the matter, the WSJ said portions of this move could be announced on Thursday when the Dearborn, Michigan-based company reports second-quarter results.
      In June, Ford announced it would slash output this year by eliminating shifts, slowing assembly lines and idling truck plants. The car maker said further details on its revised restructuring plan would be provided when it released its second-quarter results.
      In an e-mail response to a request for comment on the WSJ report, Ford spokesman Mark Truby said the company would not release details of its plans before Thursday.
      "We won't comment on speculation on what we may or may not announce in advance," he said.
      (Reporting by Nick Carey, editing by Eric Beech)

Theres nothing wrong with the crown vic other than they made to many. But i do want a Focus ST but when do we get the fords form Australia? because as far as ford goes Europe is only 2nd best and australia gets the best stuff and USA gets the left over fords but thank god we know how to fix them up and we all got a Ford Racing catalog or other aftermarket parts books.

Carmen, I can't believe I'm telling you this, but we've had at least two other threads about Ford building Euro cars in their retooled and idling truck plants. :p

BANGALORE (Reuters) - U.S. car company Ford Motor Co (NYSE:F - News) is about to alter its focus drastically and build more small cars, the New York Times said on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the plans.
 
Ford will make the announcement on Thursday, when it releases quarterly results, the newspaper said.

The company is expected to announce that it will convert three of its North American assembly plants from trucks to cars, according to the sources, the paper said.

Ford will realign factories to make more fuel-efficient engines and produce six of its next European car models for the United States market, it added.

The company will also make its Mercury brand an integral part of its new small-car strategy, the newspaper said, citing the sources, who did not want to be named because of the timing of the official announcement on Thursday.

A Ford spokesman did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

(Reporting by Varsha Tickoo in Bangalore; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

So Ford looks like making Mercury into Saturn. GM has done a complete 180 on Saturn, a division that was created to "design and build vehicles in the USA" that were supposed to bring import shoppers back into a domestic car. Now Saturn is being billed as GM's North American Opel outlet. It has resulted in some great cars (the Aura and Astra) but has not been particularly successful sales-wise.
 
Hopefully Mercury can do it better. I say this with mixed feelings, because as much as I'd like to see Mercury (and Ford) succeed, I still think Ford will screw this up. They'll end up bringing us "almost" Euro-cars. They'll look European but Ford will dumb them down for North America. They'll be afraid to offend "traditional" Ford buyers, so they'll turn the Mondeo into a Taurus. I hope I'm wrong, but history has a way of repeating itself...

Umm, of particular note, the Saturn, per se, is no longer built, period.  There will be no new Saturn models produced in the US.  The plant is gutted.  I know this from personal acquaintance and former colleague at the facility.  Strange feeling that gives me.  I designed, built, and installed the energy management system at the Saturn plant.  I've now seen the whole plant de-commissioned.  The plant is going to be re-tooled to build ANY GM vehicle.  That's right ANY GM vehicle, including Corvette, according to my source.  The Corvette will only be assembled there, but there will be some small (mid-size/compact) cars produced there eventually.  Who knows what, though.  There was also hearsay about a truck/bus division being built, but that's been scuttlebutt for years, at least 10 years that I personally know of.
 
This is not to say that GM won't do something weird like ressurrect the Opel/Olds brands through the facility.  Who knows what the heck they're going to do.  Unless we start thinking like the Europeans, though, and start hunting that 40-45 mpg, the few oil executives will continue to get richer while our vehicles continue to cost us more than a new car payment for one tank of fuel.  We have an '06 Chevy C2500 cargo van at work.  It cost $99, exactly, to fill that thing up last time I drove it.  Profitable vehicles will be the smaller models with higher MPG as long as fuel costs are high.  I don't hold much hope for any penitent lowering of fuel prices in the near future.  The only way fuel prices will drop is if demand for it is sharply reduced.

I see Ford stock rising as we speak. :)

I think our Vue is one of the very last models with plastic panels. Was there another, besides the '04 update? I'm not all that upset about the change. I always liked Opels much more than I did Saturns. Some times a half inch panel gap is just too much panel gap.

Next-generation Ford Explorer - with unibody construction, EcoBoost, six-speed, weight savings and improved aerodynamics for up to 25 percent better fuel economy - in 2010

Personally, I like the plastic torpedoes because they don't rust (in visible locations, anyway - I've already patched my front subframe and floor). That's pretty important in the $500 car market :mullet:

I think the Ion, discontinued in '08 and replaced by the Astra, was the last plastic Saturn-badged car.

Oh, you're implying that you're not supposed to be able to get your thumb in between your trunk opening and quarter panel? See below: :hick:

why does anyone car about saturn? arent they GM any way?....the new focus st looks so much better then the american spec cars

I care about Saturn because A) I own one for a daily driver (can't beat 40+ MPG in air conditioned comfort) and B) I was a Saturn tech for six years. Four of the six T-Bird/Cougars I've owned were paid for with Saturn money.

You should care about them because they look to be Mercury's new direct competition.

why does anyone car about saturn? arent they GM any way?....the new focus st looks so much better then the american spec cars

...Hopefully Mercury can do it better. I say this with mixed feelings, because as much as I'd like to see Mercury (and Ford) succeed, I still think Ford will screw this up. They'll end up bringing us "almost" Euro-cars. They'll look European but Ford will dumb them down for North America.

I happen to think that Ford may be looking at past failures to plan for the future, so what you're insinuating may certainly happen.
Remember the success (or lack thereof) of the Festiva? It was lightweight and zippy with its Mazda-sourced mill, and it also returned phenomenal fuel mileage.
It didn't sell too well, so it was eventually replaced with the Aspire, a chunky replacement that also returned excellent fuel mileage. It, too, didn't place any sales records.
Diesel models never took off due to suspect reliability in certain domestic cars, especially the rear-drive GMs in the mid-'80s, so Ford was left with what would sell - big American cars for big American people.
We must ask ourselves how long it will take to reverse this trend.

Here's my other thought:
You suggested that Ford would "dumb them down for North America."
Well, I think that will certainly happen to some degree. Most of the cars in Europe not only have efficient engines with smaller overall dimensions, but most have manual transmissions, which usually return better fuel mileage over slushboxes.
How likely is it that Americans will gracefully accept such a drastic change? It's a far cry from a V8-powered SUV with an automatic transmission. How many cupholders will it have?

It's sad to think that an American family will include cupholders and other unnecessary amenities into their buying decision, but I'm sure it's happened more than once. After all, they need more interior space for the McDonald's toys and their ever-expanding waistlines.

I've been an enthusiast of the Fox cars since the late '90s, but I'm fully prepared to shift gears (so to speak) and get into a fuel miser. Hell, I haven't driven the Coug' in over a week; I've been walking everywhere.
The question is: What will it take for Joe Consumer to relinquish the keys to his Denali? Will we have to pry them from his cold, dead hand?

The jobless logger won't be able to afford a Mini Clubman or an Astra. He'll drive a used car (because there's no such thing as a dirt cheap car anymore in North America) that he bought for next to nothing. The way the market is right now, that'll be a large car or SUV.