Ford Selling off British investments

[JSPhoto]

Ford is selling Jaguar and Land Rover to get operating cash and help the ailing company.
Ford is also buying out 600 dealers nationwide and shutting them down including one in Indy that has been in business since 1919. Sharp Ford has sold Fords since the late 40's.

JS

[walterick]

Ford, Gm and Chrysler all are going to be under in a few years. Toyota is fast becoming the world's top automaker. I don't know how the American companies are going to compete again, but they better figure it out fast.

[SmartWombat]

Well Daimler Chrysler Mercedes Benz certainly have screwed up in Europe, trying to export American style cars that people don't want.
Like the Crossfire for example, doesn't do corners. Brash, cheap plastic interior styling, overpriced.

DCMB are foisting all their cars on their dealers.
I have no idea why they think we want a Chrysler/Jeep/Mercedes/Smart dealer all in one shop, but it doesn't work.
They have four separate brands, and put them all in one dealership in the same showroom with the same service facilities.
So where is the brand loyalty?
Do they think they can cross-sell a Jeep to a Mercedes customer?

Land Rover has gone in some very strange development directions like the sport version of the iconic off-roader. Yeah it's a good car, but why pay so much over the odds for it?

Jaguar really lost their way, and again their price point is way over the competition.

Don't even mention Mercedes pricing and service costs.

[another view]

Well Daimler Chrysler Mercedes Benz certainly have screwed up in Europe, trying to export American style cars that people don't want.
Like the Crossfire for example, doesn't do corners. Brash, cheap plastic interior styling, overpriced.

The American manufacturers aren't making the cars that a lot of Americans want either... For the record, I thought the Crossfire was one of their better offerings but haven't driven one myself. I'll keep my VW TDI, thank you.

My own take on it, they have everyone that they can get into a new car with special financing tricks (see Michael Fanelli's thread...) already there. How many new cars can people buy in one year? Temporary fix, and that's about up.

[SmartWombat]

Well if they keep making cars that fall apart quicker to promote buying replacements, they pretty soon won't get out of the showroom !

[JSPhoto]

US car makers have been causing their own problems for years in the quality control area, but they have to so they can sell more cars. It's not just cars those, it's everything, quality is out the window and replacement is the name of the game, well, that and $$$ I used the same TV for 25 years, but in the past 7 years have had 3 different TV's because they are not built to last, ywo years is about it for them.

JS

[mwfanelli]

Maybe we will see some Jags in the bargain bin at Sam's Club now. I could afford that...