OT: Ford Motor Co's future? Merger with VW?
Brutal Q1, Q2 will be worse (projected $5B loss). Had to cancel electric Lincoln project with Rivian. After discontinuing all their sedans, the Electric Mustang SUV (Mach-E), Bronco Sport, and Bronco flagship have been delayed. Freep quotes a MS banker who floats a merger with VW. What would a merger mean for Michigan? Will the Michigan Central Station revitalization in Corktown Detroit still be completed?
April 28th, 2020 at 11:40 PM ^
Alan Mulally saved that company only to have it tail spin as soon as he retired. Hackett might be the worst Ford CEO of all time, exceeding even Bill Ford Jr..
April 29th, 2020 at 12:17 AM ^
Because every other car company in the world is doing great, and only Ford is struggling. Pretty sure every airline on the planet is weighing the costs of filing for bankruptcy right now..
Any company with free cash flow could buy some serious market share in the coming year.
The issue is Q1 had very little COVID impact. The Big 3 stopped production on Mar. 18. And their sales only took a hit the final two weeks of Mar as stay at home orders went into place. They would've likely reported a quarterly loss even if COVID didn't happen. That's what's concerning
The issue with Ford is they were a bleeding man with stumps for legs before Covid.
As a Ford employee, I can tell you that the sense of impending doom in this thread is incredibly overblown. Has Ford leadership made stupid decisions in the past few years? Absolutely. Are they in any serious danger of folding or having to merge with VW? Absolutely not. I don't know of anyone who is actively looking for another job at this point. Having friends who work for other major OEMs, Ford employees tend to be at least as happy as our competitors. The industry, like the economy, is cyclical. There were several good years, and we're in the middle of some bad years. Things will turn around and be just fine. I think a bunch of Lions fans conflate incompetence running a football team with incompetence running a company.
April 29th, 2020 at 10:09 AM ^
I'm glad morale is high at Ford. A lot of that is due to people that have worked there for an entire career. Turnover is relatively low at Ford compared to FCA, but that doesn't mean the company isn't in trouble. Everyone was drinking and dancing on the Titanic until it started sinking.
April 29th, 2020 at 10:16 AM ^
As someone who works with bankers a lot, the MS guy saying stuff is (almost certainly) him throwing a name at the wall rather than knowledge of even mere interest by VW or Ford.
April 29th, 2020 at 10:34 AM ^
It seems as if Ford has made their biggest bet on the future in the Mustang Mach-E, attempting to plant a flag in the EV market as the best EV crossover.
Obviously now doesn't seem to be the best time to be launching a new $40k+ vehicle, but what share of the crossover EV market they're able to take will say a lot about the long term prospects of the company (crossovers and EVs being growing segments). By all accounts, the vehicle performs exceptionally well and has most of the tech offerings one would expect in a mid-tier EV. Reliability will be key.
If the Mach-E is a success that Ford can build on year after year, the investments in tech and EV will have spillover across the lineup.
Even if the Mach-E doesn't succeed, Ford still has an incredibly strong brand that isn't going anywhere. The Mustang and F-150 are iconic and the Raptor line of pickups is catching fire. The less commercial Ford GT and Shelby brands are indicators of the companies performance bona fides. The reintroduction of the Ranger to North America and the Bronco returning also seem to be the right moves to bring back vehicles with well-known names in the SUV and light truck segment.
I pay more attention to the vehicle side than the management/financial side, but all things considered, Ford seems to have been positioning themselves well for the future recently on the decisions they're making about what vehicles to produce.
April 29th, 2020 at 11:05 AM ^
All they have to do is hire Harbaugh and everything will be fine but they won't be able to beat Tesla, who is clearly paying their recruits/future employees.