Ford CEO Farley making the tough decisions

[JeffKeryk]

Ford Motor Company facing reality, and dealing with it.
Farley stated Ford has been “stuck in a box,” with thin profit margins, weak growth and low stock valuation.

 

[Tdbo]

..........and poor management.
Yes, and this is coming from someone who has owned many Ford products.

 

[gman2304]

Ford and Harley’s 120th anniversary year. I wish them both well!

 

[slacktide_bitog]

All Ford has to do is make better cars

 

[MrHorspwer]

Won't be all things to all people = Stick to core competencies that make money and stop trying to compete with strong established competitors in niche segments (i.e. Jeep Wrangler beating up on Bronco in sales and stealing all their lunch money)

Emphasize software and services = Software as a service and subscription models

 

[WylieCoyote]

Their dealership network has not helped. Price gouging on the sales side, huge wait times and poor customer relations on the service side.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Tomorrow is bash GM day.

 

[FowVay]

How can anybody stand there and claim they won't be all things to all people any longer when they don't even make cars anymore? Ford wanted to produce nothing but high-profit pickup trucks and that decision must be coming to bite them in their behind. The dealerships can't afford to buy all of the electric vehicle tools and training required for the new products and many are just closing their doors.

It's a shame that producing a good quality, affordable vehicle that people could live with for 8 to 10 years was just too much of a hurdle for the wall street driven leaders. Jim Farley is just now figuring out what Henry Ford knew in the early days - build what your workers can afford and put one in every driveway. That isn't happening today and it's affecting the bottom line.

 

[Tdbo]

Tomorrow is bash GM day.

Truth hurts.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Their dealership network has not helped. Price gouging on the sales side, huge wait times and poor customer relations on the service side.

I think this is key. Not the only problem, but customers hate their dealer buying experience. There is a reason for it.

 

[4WD]

How can anybody stand there and claim they won't be all things to all people any longer when they don't even make cars anymore? Ford wanted to produce nothing but high-profit pickup trucks and that decision must be coming to bite them in their behind. The dealerships can't afford to buy all of the electric vehicle tools and training required for the new products and many are just closing their doors.

It's a shame that producing a good quality, affordable vehicle that people could live with for 8 to 10 years was just too much of a hurdle for the wall street driven leaders. Jim Farley is just now figuring out what Henry Ford knew in the early days - build what your workers can afford and put one in every driveway. That isn't happening today and it's affecting the bottom line.

Like you or anyone would buy them …
Look around you - people want SUV’s …
Why try to compete with the dumpers from Korea on sedans …

 

[The Critic]

It's a shame that producing a good quality, affordable vehicle that people could live with for 8 to 10 years was just too much of a hurdle for the wall street driven leaders. Jim Farley is just now figuring out what Henry Ford knew in the early days - build what your workers can afford and put one in every driveway. That isn't happening today and it's affecting the bottom line.

You missed the point.

Like you or anyone would buy them …
Look around you - people want SUV’s …
Why try to compete with the dumpers from Korea on sedans …

Exactly.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I'm still made at Ford for calling their Mustang Mach-E a Mustang. Some things ain't right...
I wish CEO Farley well in his stewardship of this great American company.

 

[PimTac]

Ford has had many years to develop their EV side of the business. Instead they rode the F150 gravy train.

 

[GON]

After reading the article, the question is who is going to buy Ford's pickup truck division? GM, Mercedes, or VW? Stick a fork in Ford, it is over for them, as long as Farley continues at the helm. Honda Civic drivers often end up buying Acuras. Toyota Corolla buyers often end up buying lexus. That is how it works, no Harvard MBA or brain power needed to know that.

Ford can't survive/compete long term by being a niche player. It's obvious Farley wants to generate short term profits till he can cash out/ retire.

 

[JustinH]

All the ford dealers in San Antonio still refuse to sell me a maverick for MSRP or less without a dozen addons. I told them to pound sand and will keep my escape running.

The only thing on their lots is $70k pickup trucks.

 

[Pew]

A couple thoughts that popped up into my head:

1.) They messed up their own image without before the "over-served" market and now they want to jump into a different market with digital services and SaaS when their Microsoft-based Sony Sync systems were all garbage with a UI that looked like Win98.

2.) It's easier to make a profit-per-item off luxury products.

3.) I thought it was illegal for vehicle manufacturers to deal with the price of their vehicles outside of MSRP labeling?

 

[GON]

And Super

Ford has had many years to develop their EV side of the business. Instead they rode the F150 gravy train.

And Super Duty gravy train.

 

[JeffKeryk]

After reading the article, the question is who is going to buy Ford's pickup truck division? GM, Mercedes, or VW? Stick a fork in Ford, it is over for them, as long as Farley continues at the helm. Honda Civic drivers often end up buying Acuras. Toyota Corolla buyers often end up buying lexus. That is how it works, no brain power needed to know that.

Ford can't survive/compete long term by being a niche player. It's obvious Farley wants to generate short term profits till he can cash out/ retire.

The opposite is true; Ford is cutting the poor performing products to focus on what works and what they believe will work going forward.
He speaks to the dealership sales model and high warranty (quality) costs.

 

[JeffKeryk]

All the ford dealers in San Antonio still refuse to sell me a maverick for MSRP or less without a dozen addons. I told them to pound sand and will keep my escape running.

The only thing on their lots is $70k pickup trucks.

The dealership practice of chasing short term money has been made worse than ever as they took advantage of the pandemic shortages.
They are shooting themselves in the foot but don't care because dealer managment is transitory.