Of course, this is precisely the type of vehicle that the government restructurists would have Detroit phase out in favour of the greener, cleaner, teenier product lines that are currently losing money. Via Tim Blair
“Ford’s newly-redesigned F-150 is selling well enough right now that the Blue Oval has added an extra shift of production at its assembly plant in Kansas City, MO, along with approval for scheduled overtime. An extra shift is also being planned for the Dearborn assembly plant. These are the types of “problems” that automakers don’t mind dealing with after a successful new product launch.”
Meanwhile, Prius sales have fallen in half, Tesla is begging for handouts, and Brits are rejecting electric cars, perhaps out of concern for the lights staying on.
(The things they don’t tell you on the CBC!)
Trucks arent going anywhere anytime soon.
But Ford doesnt require a bailout, maybe access to a line of credit for a short period of time. Then again Ford is currenlty run by a really sart guy, who really gets how to run a manufacturer…he turned around Boeing.
Management matters. Having craven management that makes unkeepable promises when extorted by the union does nobody, shareholders or workers, any favours.
GM, there is a pony in the poo somewhere, and the situation is salvageable, but you need a CEO that can clean the stable, so to speak. I dont know if there are that many left in the US anymore, they all went to Wall Street or consulting firms.
I bet Toyota could turn GM around faster than you think, as could Honda. But it isnt worth taking on all the bad culture that GM has become. It really is in the water there.
I do not have a truck, I live in the city and have little need for it, but I could see why there is a market for them. This bailout will hurt the automakers in the long run.
I see that trucks take three of the top 10 spots.
What urban metrosexuals cannot appreciate is there is some functionality to these vehicles.
The people wanting to drive the Big Three away from trucks obviously have never left the coastal hubs in the USA or GTA/Montreal in Canada. Its hard to go to a WalMart or Canadian Tire in rural North America and not find many trucks in the parking lot.
It’s a nice looking truck. I would never drive a ford (we all have our biases against one or more of the big three, don’t we?) but it’s a really good looking truck.
I notice that the Ford truck is in Conservative Blue. Maybe if GM painted all its cars this colour their sales would improve?
Tuco… its a really nice truck to drive. I have family that owns one and other than its fuel efficiency, its great.
I disagree that trucks aren’t going anywhere. I have and F-150 because I need it. I can’t carry ony my business with a smart car or an electric car, because my truck is needed for heavy lifting. Thousands of small businesses aere in the same position. There will always be a market for small trucks. Too many businesses would fold without them.
It’s just not the type of vehicle our ruling effites approve of.
I wouldn’t trade my Tundra for the Ford, a Chevy or Dodge.
And I wouldn’t trade my Clydesdale for Thumbelina.
I’ve been driving a 2009 F150 for a few days while my car is in the shop (its a long story) and I can say that it is a remarkably nice truck … I know there are some people who would disagree with me but I think that it is one of the best trucks on the market today.
When you combine how nice it is with how affordable it is, and the fact that a lot of people in the world actually need a truck, it is no surprise that it is so popular.
American automobile manufacturers could actually return to being successful if they could eliminate the union (or at least renegotiate), and if they could produce the kinds of cars that people want. Certainly, there is a large group of people who desperately want the ultra-fuel-efficient small Japanese cars, but I suspect that there are enough people who want something different that a company could be very profitable targeting these consumers.
I believe that the Honda Civic overtook the F-150 as the top seller this year….oops, just checked, make that in Canada only. However, in the US the F-150 was passed in total sales by the Civic, Accord, Camry and Corolla in June (http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/080604-Honda-Civic-Now-America-s-Best-Selling-Vehicle/)
The article site linked by your link doesn’t have any actual sales data, but does mention that the F-150 retook the #1 spot for November 2008. Given the trend in gas prices I suspect we’ll see the F-150 at the top again for the next few months, at least until gas inevitably goes back up.
I’m embarrassed to say that I bought into the negative propaganda and hated SUVs like everyone else, until I bought one. Now I wish I’d done it sooner.
I like Fords…every one I’ve owned has been good to me. I’d definitely look at a new F series or Explorer.
I am not a keen Ford man( they have design quirks that really bug me) but my Ford F250 and Ford Aerostar were the best two vehicles I ever owned. I let them both go with over 280000k each.
The Eddie Bauer Aerostar had been coast to coast to coast to baja. I think it was a van on an F150 frame.
“pixie-powered sparkle buggies”
Heh heh.
As long as there are driveways and lots to plow in the winter and big boats to trailer to the lake in the summer, trucks aren’t going anywhere.
Long live the pickup!
Trucks are the top selling vehicles because they are the closest we can get to what we want, for the money we have to spend.
The single most important feature of socialists is, they do not care what you want. You are -stupid-. You want stupid things. Socialists will decide what you need, since you can’t be trusted to buy what you should buy without adult supervision.
You may want a truck, but what you are going to get is a Smart Car, because nobler, wiser heads have decided this is how it is going to be. You’re welcome.
This is what makes me a conservative.
Automotive paint supplier PPG says the color of tomorrow’s car is blue.
I wouldn’t trade my Tundra either, but saying that would invite diesel flame talk.
The problems in automotive sector are not exclusive to Big Three.
something else CBCpravda forgot to mention.
http://www.reuters.com/article/privateEquity/idUSN0331504020081204
see , if it isnt negative it isnt news, this is last week…
CBCpravda All Lieberal All The Time.
Ghost,
When I said they aren’t going anywhwere I meant they aren’t going away, not they are stagnant. My apologies for the lack of clarity.
Now, you cannot survive on trucks alone. Biggest shame is that a lot of the really fuel efficient vehicles that Ford and GM have to offer are only sold overseas because of the prejudice, and government regs against diesel.
Ford, VW and GM all have significant businesses in Europe and elsewhere with midsize sedans that are diesel driven. Affordable and they sip fuel.
All depends on what problem you are trying to solve I guess.
GM’s problem is more the way it is structured in NA, its overcapacity and legcy costs. It is a profitable company outside of North America.
2005 F-150 4×4. It’s for work. I carry stuff to work, dirty stuff, bulky stuff, that’s why I have a truck. The F-150 is a nice truck, comfortable on long hauls – I drive on average 900 km just to go to work. Fuel efficiency isn’t bad for a truck – 26 mpg highway. It sucks in the city, but then I take transit if I don’t need the truck.
Life is all about choices. I’m a big boy now, so I can make my own choices. Don’t need no lefty, socialista, control freaks making my choices for me. Works the same way when I vote. I don’t vote for lefty, socialista, control freaks. I like Harper, he pokes sticks in lefty, socialistas eyes. I like that. Do it some more.
By the way that is a nice looking F-150.
2005 F-150 4×4. It’s for work. I carry stuff to work, dirty stuff, bulky stuff, that’s why I have a truck. The F-150 is a nice truck, comfortable on long hauls – I drive on average 900 km just to go to work. Fuel efficiency isn’t bad for a truck – 26 mpg highway. It sucks in the city, but then I take transit if I don’t need the truck.
Life is all about choices. I’m a big boy now, so I can make my own choices. Don’t need no lefty, socialista, control freaks making my choices for me. Works the same way when I vote. I don’t vote for lefty, socialista, control freaks. I like Harper, he pokes sticks in lefty, socialistas eyes. I like that. Do it some more.
By the way that is a nice looking F-150.
your server seems to be having fits and conniptions of late. Could it be a DOS attack or just Lieberals trying to vote for a leader online?
“While volumes are still tiny, any drop in electric car sales will come as a shock to most people,” (pun ?)
BTW, not that I care, but what ever happened to Tony Electric Guitar !? ==========
======== zap
Tony Guitar?
Jeff Davidson? photographer without focus
real? bipolar muslim extraordinaire.
big city lib – lieberal without a cause.
the likes of them are depleting.
LOL cal2 at 4:36, your word wizardry is point on.
🙂
now what for right of center?
Constant centrifuge?
I’m ambivalent.
On one hand, I’d rather see the AGW crowd humiliated and destroyed.
On the other hand, I don’t want to see one more penny supporting Islamic imperialism.
I worked in the car industry for 15 years, thusly I could go on for a couple hours with what is wrong with those sukkers, design, manufacturing flaws, choice restrictions, etc; etc;, but what says it best, in 1988 I drove 1 hour to, spent 4 hours at, and drove 1 hour back, to do a 15 minute adj on a band saw that I could have guided the receptionist to do over the phone. Bill to GM, over $500.
For a blast from the past…google Henry Ford + Hemp mobile..
carry on…
I’ve never understood what people have against electric vehicles. Lousy for farmers or long-haul truckers but once they are perfected they will be ideal for 90% of city commuters.
We can always build more reactors if we need electricity. Besides, just think how many mosques those F-150’s will fund. Saudi-funded Wahhabi Mosques, that is. Not to mention the Iranian nuclear program and Hugo Chavez socialist paradise.
The largest transfer of wealth in history is in progress right now, and nobody bats an eye.
Yes, and one only needs to look at Honda’s November sales results to see how successful greening the Detroit 3 will be in a recession:
http://www.hondanews.com/categories/1097/releases/4884
Notice the Honda Civic hybrid sales down 67%, the Accord hybrid had sales of 0, and the only model to register an increase (4.5%) was the Pilot SUV.
If they’re actually going to take direction from liberals in Congress they are surely doomed.
One thing SDA fails to remind readers is that Ford added an extra shift at the Kansas City plant on Dec 5th because they completely shut down the truck line at the Ford’s Michigan Truck Plant on the 28th of November.
Reasons why I like my pick-up truck-
1:It’s got a Hemi in it.
2:It’ll pull my race car in cruise control and O/D at 75 mph.
3:It will get close to 20 mpg cruising at 75-80 mph.
4:It’ll put down 40 feet of rubbber.
5:It’ll haul $50,000 worth of customer product in the back.
6:It’ll haul 60 years of detritus from my Grampa’s shed.
7: It’s got A/C, a CD player, 4 doors, and it’s got a Hemi in it.
If our company buys us trucks to replace our personal vehicles that we use for work, I’ll buy a car-a station wagon actually-with a Hemi in it.
So now the automakers want a bailout? What have they been doing with the exorbidant profits?They have been overcharging us for years.Every other consumer product has become more affordable over the years, except cars.
Against EVs ? No.
But first they have to be practical.
Range. Heater. A/C. Time to recharge. Batt life. Weight.
And that is around town.
If not hwy capable – 2nd or even 3rd vehicle required ?
Popular Mechanics may work in Arts Faculty courses but not on the street.
“The largest transfer of wealth in history is in progress right now, and nobody bats an eye.”
Posted by: Belisarius at December 8, 2008 10:21 PM
Declare them all terrorist states, and sieze their assets. That, my friend, will be the largest transfer of wealth in history.
Ford is ahead of the curve with the F150. They’re actually competing with their own Super-Duty for the light commercial market. If they can convince people like me to downsize, their CAFE rating will improve. They’ve added enough options to make it easier to work out of the 150, so my plan is to switch. Their main problem is that the economy will delay my decision for about a year.
For you Ford truck fans…
http://www.fordvehicles.com/2009f150/
Give people a choice between a carrot and a really BIG fresh-baked chocolate and sprinkle covered donut, guess which one the majority is going to eat.
Instead of the Gov giving the small 3 bailout money they should provide cash incentives for people to buy their products. They don’t need money to build more cars and trucks, they need people to purchase what is sitting in storage. Why give them money so that they can waste it on their bonuses, retreats and overpaid management, give it to the people who are willing to buy their products.
Manufacturing a new hybrid vehicle releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than it will save relative to the emissions of a full-sized Hummer.
By trading in your gas guzzler, you are also not guaranteeing that it is removed from the road. Since the resale price internalizes expected gasoline expenditures, the new owner is subsidized in his higher fuel usage. In other words, all you do is pass YOUR emissions to someone else and INCREASE total emissions.
If you have no operable vehicle, then it is STILL not cost-effective or eco-friendly to buy a hybrid. Hybrids usually cannot recoup their price premium in gasoline savings. They are also catastrophic to the environment with lead, nickel, mercury, and rare earth elements needed to make them. Production of a Hummer damages the environment less than a Prius. A Toyota Scion is an economical vehicle with a much better “footprint” than a Prius.
Hybrid batteries and motors use relatively large quantities of rare earth metals, 95% of which are mined in China. China devastates the environment to get at these metals – strip mining and polluting ground water. So a hybrid owner merely transfers his own environmental damage to the other side of the planet and MAGNIFIES it thousandfold.
So if you own an operable gas guzzler, the optimum choice for the environment is to drive your vehicle until it dies and THEN replace it with a more efficient vehicle.
If you do not have an operable vehicle, the optimum choice would be to buy an efficient NON-hybrid vehicle.
Of course, government tax subsidies for hybrids distort consumption choices and the liberal desire to be PERCEIVED as helping the environment is more important than ACTUALLY helping the environment.