FORD Motor Company closing 14plants (30,000 workers)

[Karding]

PRESS RELEASE Jan. 23, 2006

From now on, our products will be designed and built to satisfy the customer – not just to fill a factory.

Amf, 3 days ago lang nagising ang FORD Motor Company?!

Sounds to me that vehicles built Jan. 23, 2006 and older were built just to fill the factory. Amf namang CEO ito, alang wenta magbigay ng statement :evillaugh

http://media.ford.com/newsroom/relea...?release=22465

I remember back then when kitchen and laundry appliances are filled with Japanese makers. But in the late 80s, US based manufacturers like Whirpool, GE, Kenmore, Maytag and among others decided to have a ZERO TOLERANCE on defects unlike the American automobile manufacturers.

PAT BUCHANAN, NBC POLITICAL ANALYST: What is happening, Joe, is we‘re decentralizing this country.

We are sacrificing American factories, American labor, pensions, health benefits, all on the altar of some big myth called the global economy, and which no one really believes, except a lot of American academics and thinkers.

What you are seeing happen to ford GM and every industry in America is, we‘re exporting our jobs. What happens is, these folks want to keep Americans as consumers and get rid of Americans as workers. And that‘s what the global economy is all about. And that‘s what‘s happening.

eto namang PAT BUCHANAN na 'to ala din sa ayos. Eh bakit ang Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsu [???] as well as German cars may factories pa din dito sa US although the quality has not been sacrificed compared to FORD, GM, and CHEVY?

full article on PAT BUCHANAN
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11011883/

[kuroy]

hirap silang magcompete kasi mahal ang wages nila $65 per hour yata pati iyong mga simpleng nag tuturnilyo lang ng mga parts sa assembly line.

mahal ang cost of production and iyong mga cars naman nila ndi quality

[Jun aka Pekto]

Well, many Americans are speaking with their wallets. I used to have all domestic vehicles in my garage and I do try to stick with domestics whenever I can. But, not this time around. We replaced our Dodge van with a Hyundai 3.3L Sonata. We intend to replace our 95 Ford Contour soon. But, it's not going to be a domestic either cept maybe for that new Lumina coupe.

Mitsu's fallen far behind lately. I think Hyundai is now 4th after Toyota, Honda, and Nissan.

[niky]

It's a number of factors.

1. Retirement benefits: Back when the US car business was booming, Ford and GM gave out generous bonuses and benefits to their workers. The United Auto Workers' Union also wrangled a lot of pay bonuses out of the big two. Now they're saddled with paying off around $1000 (Ford) to $2000 (GM) per vehicle made to pay for all their former employees.

If you can remember, the Japanese had the same problem, as they also give lifetime bonuses (like lifetime employment) and benefits to their workers (especially Nissan and Toyota). I don't know how they solved this, but only Nissan had a problem with it in the long run. But neither company had as many local workers as American car companies did. Toyota is now expanding in the US because it doesn't have to give out such huge retirement packages, since jobs for auto workers are tight now.

2. Toyota is putting up with higher US wages merely for political reasons (they would like to be known in the US as an American company... a lot of PR money goes into that , too) and to gain a foothold in the US market. US automakers are outsourcing factories to other countries to gain footholds in those markets. And, as they are in financial distress, they can't afford to maintain a lot of factories on US soil.

3. US automakers have been suffering for decades from a strong dollar. Japan keeps the yen undervalued to keep their products competitive in the US market. Look at the Europeans. They have strong currencies also, and some of them compete well with US cars... but other than in the premium market (where price doesn't matter as much), they have struggled to maintain a foothold in the US.

4. Fleet Sales. Ford and GM have consistently fought to maintain their volume through fleet sales (police, fire, taxi, rental, etc.). They make zero profit from these sales. The factories being closed are those that make the unprofitable Ford minivans, the Crown Victoria (fleet vehicle for the police, but not selling well) and the Taurus (fleet only). GM and Ford are now downsizing and shying away from fleet vehicles.

5. Perception gap. Modern US vehicles are now at par with Japanese in terms of quality and reliability. However, many people have been burned, and not many want to buy US vehicles any more.

[Karding]

hirap silang magcompete kasi mahal ang wages nila $65 per hour yata pati iyong mga simpleng nag tuturnilyo lang ng mga parts sa assembly line.

mahal ang cost of production and iyong mga cars naman nila ndi quality

eh ultimong CEO nila umamin na about their lack of quality (based on his own statement) :evillaugh

$65/hour sa Ford, magkano naman kaya sa Toyota or Honda?!

dahil din siguro sa Ford Pinto controversy kaya nadala na din ang consumers.

"Ford Pinto is unsafe, but it will cost the company a huge amount of money to go back to the drawing board than to settle with the consumer who could/had died when Pinto catches fire. So, lets just pay up."

Ford and GM tried or still trying to make the US Gov't cover their employee benefits, yey yari ang taxpayers kapag nagkataon.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Perception gap. Modern US vehicles are now at par with Japanese in terms of quality and reliability. However, many people have been burned, and not many want to buy US vehicles any more.

For the most part, that's partly true. I'd say Ford and GM are doing an uneven job. While my wife's 95 Contour was in the shop and Ford techies were trying to nail down the source of the engine light being on, I can't help but notice the really poor panel fit of a new Mustang convertible in the showroom floor. Checking out a Mustang GT showed the coupe having a somewhat better build-quality than the convertible. But, after oohh and ahh-ing on the panel fit and paintjob of our new Sonata, the Mustang looked crude by comparison. It's plain to see which company is improving and which one isn't. Maybe it's different with Ford overseas since the Focus seems to be the best-built Fords around. But here in the USDM, Ford has a long way to go before winning me back.

[niky]

The new Focus is all right because it's mostly a Ford of Europe development, in conjunction with Mazda.

The new Ford Five Hundred and Fusion should also be of better quality than the Taurus they're replacing.

Tama ka nga... GM is improving a lot... but Ford has a good foothold in the international market, especially with strong showings from Mazda, Volvo and Aston Jaguar is their only poorly performing foreign subsidiary at the moment, but mostly because of the ill-advised move into the "cheap" luxury market with the X-Type.

Next step for Ford and GM is to sacrifice the number of brands they each carry. Especially GM. Having Saturn, Pontiac and Chevy selling cars in the same price bracket, with the same chassis and engines is just pure suicide. Ford might also want to drop Mercury and keep Ford and Lincoln as their only domestic nameplates.

[empy]

Ford is basically saying that they just cannot deal with the UAW anymore. they don't feel that they will survive if they are held hostage to the union's terms. and i agree with them.

the issue is, simply, it's not competitive to produce cars in America anymore. Ford, which is a global company, has better options from South America to Asia.

[empy]

Well, many Americans are speaking with their wallets. I used to have all domestic vehicles in my garage and I do try to stick with domestics whenever I can. But, not this time around. We replaced our Dodge van with a Hyundai 3.3L Sonata. We intend to replace our 95 Ford Contour soon. But, it's not going to be a domestic either cept maybe for that new Lumina coupe.

Mitsu's fallen far behind lately. I think Hyundai is now 4th after Toyota, Honda, and Nissan.

out a Mustang GT showed the coupe having a somewhat better build-quality than the convertible. But, after oohh and ahh-ing on the panel fit and paintjob of our new Sonata, the Mustang looked crude by comparison. It's plain to see which company is improving and which one isn't. Maybe it's different with Ford overseas since the Focus seems to be the best-built Fords around. But here in the USDM, Ford has a long way to go before winning me back.

hyundai has indeed come a long way. if you had made these statements in the late 90's i would have laughed my ass off.

btw, why do you have to 'wait' for the Lumina coupe? isn't the current Pontiac GTO the exact same thing?

[oldblue]

here in the Phils, being paid $65 per hour is more than an executive na. dapat na siguro talaga nila i-outsource yan ford production. sobrang relaxed na yan mga american factory workers