http://www.fordmuscle.com/blog/help-convince-ford/112105
Absolutely disgraceful.
You know the world is about to end when companies hate their own fans. :flip: you, Ford.
I'm giving serious consideration to recommending to my mother (who feels like she may need a new car in the next year or two) not to buy another Ford this time around, over like this.
That's rediculous...$10,000 in damages???? What damages??? I would think Ford owes them the money for creating a thriving market to bring new buyers in because of the amount of aftermarket there is......If it weren't for my Cougar, I'd abandon all hope for the company and stop defending them.
When and if this ever comes to our doorstep i will believe this otherwise right now its just more internet roumor shiznit to me.
What do you have against FordMuscle.com that would have you responding like that? Or is it that you don't believe Ford could ever possibly do such a stupid thing?
Don't worry, if this is true, enough bad publicity will come of it that Ford will backtrack, and likely blame it on the lawyers (No, WE didn't authorize this action, the legal department did it on their own). I believe it has happened with Ford before...
I don't know if it was on mustangtuning.com before, but I was just at their site and there is a big note at the top of the site saying "MustangTuning.com is NOT affiliated with the Ford Motor Company". I've never been to the site before today, so I couldn't tell you if that is new or not.
Yes this issue i will have to agree with as there is so many after market parts that they want tooo fcking much for how can a car that cost $16.000 brand new have $10.000 in damage ????? isnt this some bs
This gonna be like the dog that pursues his tail, running in circles.....the only thing he is gonna get when he catch it is PAIN IN THE ASS.....
You know why they have it out for aftermarket parts manufacturers, etc? Because they provide a method to repair and upgrade OLD cars. Ford doesn't give two shiznits about a car once it leaves the lot, much less something that could be as many as 20 years old. Same thing with other car manufacturers. I've had my Neon for about a year, I still owe 9k or more on it. Of course I've been recieveing emails and flyers about thier great deals on new cars since then.
Ford is so worried about their image and whatnot, but look at how many of us had our old clunker tbirds and cougars for first cars, and while many of us are still loyal to our outdated cars, many of us have stepped up and bought something new from Ford, wether its a mustang, focus, explorer, F150, or whatever your choice. I can almost garentee that many of those who bought new cars wouldnt have bought a Ford if they didnt own these "starter cars" if you will.
Ford is going to end up shooting themselves in the foot by eliminating the possibility of people getting these older cars, knowing how to repair them, being satisfied with them and as money comes, buying a brand new Ford.
This will also hurt car sales in the long run. I know MANY people who have bought a mustang only because a certain style wheel fits it, or because of the aftermarket. If this aftermarket dies off...why buy a mustang? The new ones are heavy pics with mediocre performance, and a terrible "Ford Racing" backing. Not only do i dislike the cars, i dislike anything from the Ford Racing catalog. That eliminates ANY possible chance of me wanting one, especially if Ford tries to pull the plug on the aftermarket companies.
I've been on that site many times and I have never seen it.
Exactly we have enough bad publicity now why make themselves look worse
well i belive it all started over that they dont want to lose the name mustang like they lost gt-40's copyright bc they didnt enforce that someone couldnt use gt-40 name on parts or cars. so like stated on another site thats why the New gt-40 is just the GT (lame) and the same goes with mustang if they let others use the name with out fords permission they can loose the name if some other company wanted to use it. if you look on the Corral in the clasic mustang section some good points were brought up.
do i agree with this move. yes and no i understand the right to the name mustang. do i agree with the fines no! the companies should just have to lose mustang or ford in the name. i think that them loseing the names (not ford) will hurt bussness enought that they shouldnt have to pay 10,000 to ford .
i have said my peace
The name Mustang isn't really Ford's to begin with. To get technical it's obviously the name of a type of horse. But its also the name to an airplane. The name Mustang was given to the WWII plane in 1941...so if anyone should be sueing, it should be North American for taking their name of their plane.
I think it's Ford's way of controling what they think is their market. Dealerships are fighting over independent shops for service. Ford is just taking that fight to the next step. If someone is doing a service to or for, or is making parts for their cars....it's wrong. They just want people to buy from them, service with them, and upgrade from them. It's not just Mustang they are going after, its Focus, Falcon, Tbirds...the Mustang crowd is just the first on the radar. Ford racing makes a Focus V8 RWD conversion, but gauranteed, they are going to go after the aftermarket companies making the same kits. It's a matter of control. If they can't see the market is thriving mostly because of the aftermarket potential, then they are just playing with a loaded gun.
It would be a sad day if I'd have to disown my Cougar and my girlfriend's TC from the Ford name because they are so uptight about their name that they won't allow anyone else to even refer to it in the aftermarket.
Don't worry about all this too much. In 1999 BlueOvalNews.com won a major victory against Ford. That all came about when Ford employees would give the publisher (Robert Lane) internal Ford documents, and he in turn would put them on the site. Ford, of course, sued...but he won. It was a First Amendment issue all the way, and fortunately the judge made the correct decision.
It is a matter of control, that's for sure, and Ford wants as much of it as possible. Instead of helping the enthusiasts, though, they are going to alienate them, which is something Ford cannot afford to do at this point. They are losing way too many customers to begin with. But that's another issue. Again, I'm not worried. The first case will not fall to Ford's favor, they'll forget further action, and this will all be about nothing.
And really...if they try to go after the name of this board...how desperate are they?! ;)
they actually sold the name with the rights to the car after its initial run if I remember the stories correctly.
I don't see this being "completely" true, it could be that something else came up where this company was brought to suit, and Ford was dragged in with them.
Haha, it makes me laugh that they are going to pursue this to the Thunderbird name as well. I'm pretty sure that the rest of the world could give a rat's ass about our cars, especially compared to the gobs and gobs of Mustang forums, clubs, groups, etc, etc... there's really only a handful of us that love these cars still. So all in all it sounds like Ford is pretty much just going to screw the pooch with this whole thing.
I'd agree, normally. But GM just got through doing the same thing to scores of their own. They're looking better than they have in years, and the public has had more than six months to react. One of my favorites was Chevyduty.com . If you had a frame and a cab skeleton, they could provide you with every other part on any GMC or Chevy pickup from 47-87 (other than powertrain). If only Fox cars were so lucky. But GM made them change their name, and now they're recovering fast.
Frickin' lawyers.:mad: