There has been a lot of talk about the governments involvement with Chrysler and GM. One might think that Ford would be insulated from all of this mess because they didn't take bailout money. They could be in the biggest mess of all though.

The government is saying that it will buy a bunch of fuel efficient cars from GM to give them a jump start. So, where does that leave Ford? Are police departments going to be forced to buy GM vehicles? How about the DPW's and all of the other government funded agencies that use vehicles? Doesn't this, after all this mess, leave Ford holding the short end of the stick?

What good will it have done Ford to have done the right thing? It seems possible that they might be the biggest loser of all of this government take over of the US auto industry.

I've been thinking for a while that Ford would be better off not playing with the government. After the conversations that I've been listening to today, I'm thinking that the car company that most of the people on this site support, is going to be pushed right out of the industry.

Does any one else find this disturbing?

 

i dont think the gov't should dump more money into GM, they have given billions already, if you can't keep a company going w/ billions of dollars something is wrong w/ ur company.

 

I like Crown Vic's as police cars lol, I don't want anything else

 

they were saying on one of the money shows this evening that ford borrowed a bunch of money and are burning thru that. they said its only a matter of time for ford also.

 

We the people will buy Ford products. Ford will prosper as a result.

 

Just heard that our own, fine canadian leader, Steven Dumbass has approved 10.5 Billion more for GM today from my wallet. AND THEY JUST FILED BANKRUPTCY TODAY!?

Way to ****ing go. That will add to our surprise 50 Billion deficite -- The deficite that our finance minister swore would be ZERO.

 

haha

 

The companies all need to revamp though... I personally think half tons and up should get the following: 8 or so speed tranny with a two speed rear axel. It would provide diesel like torque when in one ratio at the rear, and then a cruise for the highway when the speed is constant. My dad was saying the other night CNG is very effiecient but the government does not want to utilize it like gasoline is. But mark my words as long as ford as in business, I will buy many more ford products and keep the one I have now

 

I think they are doing pretty good, their stock is up about 200 percent since they bottomed out at about 1.75. Oh and also I dont know if anyone else has seen this but you can hardly find a chrysler or a GM dealer anymore and I live in a highly populated area.

 

yeah, Ford will be alright if the public is so disguted in government motors that we choose ford over the others because of this.

 

Ford the only real American car company.

So we've given $30 BILLION to GM already, and I read today there's another $20 BILLION for them after the bankruptcy. And that's just American dollars, not including what the Canadian gubment has done to help out.

 

I read an article in Motor Trend that essentially said we should not read too much into the fact that Ford did not need (or take) any bailout money from the government. They went on to say Ford may be healthier than GM and Chrysler, but it was akin to being the healthiest patient in the I.C.U..

If Ford doesn't hit a homerun with the 2009 F-150, 2010 Taurus, and if the Edge, and Fusion don't continue to sell strong, Ford may find themselves circling the drain too. Their back up players (Full size and truck based SUV's) were detrimentally affected by the gas prices last year, and have yet to recover.

I hope Ford gets back on its feet, GM and Chrysler too.

However, if things don't change drastically- they will all fold. Change starts with the Union concessions, deferment, reallocation, or renegotiation of healthcare costs, restructuring their retirement plans. A bankruptcy might be the best thing for the Big Three. Sure, it'd end up screwing the workers- but the workers (unions), greedy upper managers, and fat cat shareholders painted themselves into this corner. Unfortunately, it's going to take messy, hard and ugly decisions to get them out of that corner. It is even more unfortunate that the little man is going to be the one to suffer most from the decisions I'm sure will have to be made.

 

Ford's not going anywhere. The public backlash would be unbearable, IMO. - Og

 

Ford is not immune from the bad economy, and could easily be out of business or taken over by the government within 5 years.

Certainly many buyers will seek out the non-govt. owned car company, but that may be swimming against the tide and only a temporary option.

Basically, the government holds many of the cards already. Ford's fate is up to them. If the Executive branch decides to gradually choke Ford off for purposes of taking them over or for putting Ford out of business, they have a variety of methods of doing so. It could be death by a thousand cuts (likely) or the government could fire Ford's CEO tomorrow (they are not that arrogant yet - maybe next year).

FWIW, I think the economy is going to get much worse than the media and president would like you to believe, which also hurts Ford's future. Face it, we have lost 16,000 jobs a day since Obama became president. The negative impacts of his huge inrease in govt. spending (higher taxes, inflation) are yet to be felt. Our creditors (China) have not yet begun to play hardball. We will be hit by future natural disasters and international crisis.

With each industry that fails, there will be additional government bail outs followed by takeovers, lessening the incentive for investors and hard workers. I could go on, but as as the country rapidly sinks into Socialism and ever increasing taxes and fees to pay for our bloated government, people are simply not going to be able to afford to buy cars and truks. The government will be able to afford more cars than ever, and they will be buying GM.

 

you'd be surprised at the amount of people who're trading chevy trucks for f150 around here. when i was picking up my milan,3 people in chevy trucks came in, one was pretty new. i seen 2 of them leave in a truck, the 3rd was looking hard at the platinum.