Ford "innovation"

Innovation? Cut 30,000 jobs. Well, the only thing they are innovating is how to go down the SH1tter

 

Doesn't look like Ford or GM are going to get any handouts from the government either. Handouts like the ones Chrysler got in the 80's.

 

Chrysler gets this, Chrysler gets that... Just cause we got help 20 years ago, means the government should help Ford and GM now? Get with it.... It isn't the 80's anymore...

 

Chrysler was also a MUCH smaller company than the behemoths Ford and GM have become. We're not talking millions for a bail out we're talking BILLIONS!

 

Ford needs new CEO's and a complete new line of cars excluding the Explorer and Mustang. I don't know whether the government should help or not though. It is a large American company, but it's not necessarilly their job to bail Ford out. I can see either way and hope Ford/GM fixes the problem(s) soon.


-Matt-

 

Chrysler got $1.5 billion in loan guarantees from the government in 1979.....

Dusty

 

The key words are loan guarantee's. The gov did not loan them the money, or "bail" them out.

Joe

 

Ford says they made a profit last year, here is a press release from their own website, of course this doesnt reflect what we all hear on the news and/or why they need to let 30,000 people go and shut down a buttload of plants does it... 14 North American manufacturing facilities by 2012, including seven vehicle assembly plants.

"

STATEMENT: FORD PROFITABLE IN 2005; SAYS NO NEED FOR GOVERNMENT BAILOUT



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Press Releases


WASHINGTON DC, Jan. 26 – In light of the challenges facing the U.S. auto industry, some have speculated that bankruptcy—and a bail out by the federal government—are only a matter of time.
At Ford, that couldn’t be further from our minds. We plan to compete and win by driving American innovation and building cars that consumers want.

President Bush said yesterday that no one in the industry had approached the government about a bailout. He's right. "Ford has not asked for – and is not interested in – a government bailout," said Dan Brouillette, Vice President, Governmental Affairs.

As we announced this week, our 2005 earnings yielded $2 billion in profits, which distinguishes us from some of our competitors.

But we’re certainly not content with our place in the market. We’ve launched an ambitious Way Forward plan that will lead to profitability in the North American market by 2008.

"There are many partnerships we can undertake with government -- from alternative energy research to worker re-training to enforcing our trade laws -- but a bailout is not one of them," said Brouillette.

We were the first American automaker to produce a hybrid and the first automaker in the world to put a hybrid SUV on the road. We’ll produce 250,000 ethanol-fueled vehicles this year alone and 250,000 hybrids by 2010.

We're dramatically restructuring our company – and our culture. As we follow this path forward, we are confident that the design and quality of our vehicles and the profits they will yield will speak for themselves. "

 

A company that size has so many ways to make their year end figures look both to the IRS and to the shareholders that its impossible to know the true strength of their bottom line. This much is true though, ford had a tremendous amount of factory capacity that was unused so a restructuring was probably long overdue.

 

I just saw the new commercial....what a joke.....Ford by far has the worst looking cars....Take a bar of soap, put wheels on it and stick a blue oval on the front. I thought the new mustang would be cool and its pretty boring...another chick car. The only thing propping ford up right now is truck sales...their car line is a joke. Ford freestyle looks like a old escort wagon....really bad styling.