Mustang and Focus lone Ford car survivors

[Skip Lackie]

Walter P. Chrysler was the president of Buick 1912-1920. During most of that time, it was the only GM division that made a profit.

[WinM1895]

Walter P. Chrysler was the president of Buick 1912-1920. During most of that time, it was the only GM division that made a profit.

Chrysler was president, but the real credit belongs to Billy Durant.

He purchased Buick when it was "dead from the neck up." Then infused it with cash and hired Chrysler to run it.

If Durant hadn't purchased Buick, it would have died and Chrysler might have ended up working on the railroad his entire life.

[tsenecal]

I guess that the company executives, and accountants, know what they are doing, but there still seems to be a fairly strong market for sedans, and if they're not available from one brand, people will jump over to another, along with their brand loyalty.

[Stu Chapman]

I guess that the company executives, and accountants, know what they are doing, but there still seems to be a fairly strong market for sedans, and if they're not available from one brand, people will jump over to another, along with their brand loyalty.

You would certainly think so. It would appear that Ford sells the majority of police cars in North America so do they expect that all the police departments are going to switch over to their SUVs?

Stu Chapman

[sweetolbob]

I'm a bit uninformed about the total industry, but Ford has made some pretty good decisions over the last few years. I'd think they have a set number of production facilities and are more in interested maximizing production of the better profit vehicles in them than to continue to produce a larger mix with overall lower profits.

I don't see where leaving a vehicle type excludes a company from reentering the market at a later date if profitability has improved. Most auto companies are running flex plants that can be changed over to produce currently popular models.

FCA (Chrysler) has been doing the same thing with less fanfare.

[j.byrd]

Stu Chapman sir, for a short answer, YES. Most of the officers here and in a couple other areas we've lived have "SUV's".... Personally, I still think that stands for Stupid, Ugly Vehicle, but they are certainly becoming the thing to have, even at our Rentacar facilities. Oh well, my dad thought I was crazy for having SUH ( stupid ugly hair...when I let it grow for a while trying to be a Beatle, ha !) and hot rods, so perhaps things just change to something else "unacceptable" to us aged folks each generation.

[Jeff_H]

I think there are a few not-normally-mentioned reasons for the trend of less cars and more SUV's and trucks...

Safety standards are part of it. Cars just are crap IMO from a driver point of view due to safety requirements. Poor rear visibility due to the high rears and rear seat head rests. Presume this is from rear crash test standards. This problem extends to small SUV's too. Newer ones have gone to backup cameras, etc to mitigate it but that is no substitute to being able to see what is happening behind you. I've sat in a few later smaller cars and no way I would want to put up with the poor visibility in thick traffic conditions. One of the reasons I bought my 3rd hand 2006 Subaru Forester is the rear end is not so high you cannot see out the back. Took the rear seat headrests out ASAP too (I almost never have passengers).

Kids car seats. They have gotten too unwieldy to R&R out of normal sedan and most parents have gone to crew cab trucks and large SUV's due to the room and ease of dealing with the child seats.

The avg. "girth" of the public and ease of in/out.... Nuff said....

At least in this area, the low ground clearance of cars with plastic ground effects get all broken up from curbs and snow/ice at parking lots in the winter.

Would be nice, now that the avg vehicle on the road (at least around here) is a crew cab 4dr pickup or a large SUV they'd make the parking space dimensions a bit larger. I've had to walk sideways between vehicles to get between the mirrors at parking lots and the row spacing makes it tough to back out w/o hitting the front of the row behind as folks rears stick out into the lane.

I'd estimate that only about 30% of my work company lot is cars nowadays.

[studegary]

You would certainly think so. It would appear that Ford sells the majority of police cars in North America so do they expect that all the police departments are going to switch over to their SUVs?

Stu Chapman

The large number of cars sold to fleets (police, government, rental, utilities, etc.) are good for advertising, but not so good for the bottom line at the VERY low margin that they are priced at.

[studegary]

I haven't seen any mention of the new GT. Has it been built out already?

[Studedude]

In our area, it seems that Dodge Chargers have replaced Crown Vics as patrol/CID/staff cars, when it comes to 4 door sedans.

SUVs and trucks are replacing sedans in most municipalities and county departments.

The highway patrol, which spends most of its time chasing tail lights, as opposed to criminal law enforcement duties, still uses mostly sedans (Chargers) for routine patrol, and SUVs for weights and measures, etc.

The move towards SUVs makes sense when one realizes how much equipment your typical patrol officer has to have within his/her reach anymore.

They must be prepared to respond to active shooter incidents, which requires safety and response gear beyond belief. Some calls call for a hand gun, some for a taser, some for a shot gun, some for a rifle. They no longer wait for SWAT to respond, so each patrol officer must have the equipment with them on a daily basis to allow them the ability to enter the scene and neutralize the bad guy.

Cones/barricades for accident scenes, first aid kits, defibrillators, crime scene investigation kits, radios, computers, radars, switch consoles, the list goes on and on, this is far from all inclusive.

The officer has on his/her body several items, which include, but not limited to, a sam brown belt, with a gun, a taser, handcuffs, pepper spray, a walkie talkie, body video camera, and body armor that is hot and bulky. They have a brief case full of report forms, and other items that require a desk with several drawers for someone doing the same type of work in an office.

Today's typical sedan is just not up to the task.

[WinM1895]

I think there are a few not-normally-mentioned reasons for the trend of less cars and more SUV's and trucks...

Safety standards are part of it. Cars just are crap IMO from a driver point of view due to safety requirements. Poor rear visibility due to the high rears and rear seat head rests. Presume this is from rear crash test standards. This problem extends to small SUV's too. Newer ones have gone to backup cameras, etc to mitigate it but that is no substitute to being able to see what is happening behind you. I've sat in a few later smaller cars and no way I would want to put up with the poor visibility in thick traffic conditions. One of the reasons I bought my 3rd hand 2006 Subaru Forester is the rear end is not so high you cannot see out the back. Took the rear seat headrests out ASAP too (I almost never have passengers).

So, you consider newer cars to be unsafe, what about older cars? What safety features do Studebakers have? If you were in an accident with a Crew Cab pickup, what vehicle would you consider you would have a better chance of surviving in?

I don't know diddly about Subaru's, but I do know about FoMoCo vehicles. For example, my 2017 Fusion has, for example: 4 wheel disc brakes, front/side curtain air bags, front/rear crumple zones, backup camera (mandatory in sold new in US vehicles beginning in 2017), passive/active shoulder belts, collapsible steering column.

What safety features does a Studebaker (or any collector car from the same time frame) have? Safety glass, possibly lap seat belts and front disc brakes (Studebaker: 1963/66), and that's it.

If I got into an accident with a 3 ton F150 Stupor Crew (I've owned 3 of them [2004/2011/2015] & 2 Titans [2005/2006]), I'd prefer the Fusion over any collector car.

[avanti-hawk]

Sedan sales have been slumping for a decade. Even the Honda Accord is losing a big market share. I like the Ford Taurus and have a 2013 ex cop car AWD one. But after driving the 2013 Ford Explorer I can see why so many people prefer it, especially the police. So much more room and better visibility. But much less fuel mileage.
I usually don't follow the latest automotive trends,such as the SUV craze ( Studebaker driver for example) and will always have a sedan for comfort and best fuel mileage.

[Jeff_H]

So, you consider newer cars to be unsafe,

Not sure how you got that from my comments....

My point was that some of the safety features have gotten in the way of the utility and driving experience and made the smaller vehicles less attractive to drive or use for that reason alone.

[Milaca]

For NASCAR, Ford will replace the Fusion with an Explorer next season.....just kidding, the Mustang will take its place.
But seriously, an Explorer would be more appropriate being that SUVs are now the norm.

This talk of Ford ending car production reminds me of them discontinuing production of the Ford Ranger back in 2011. The reason Ford gave for ending production was that its compact pickup didn't sell well enough to be profitable. Rediculous!! The reason the Ranger no longer sold well is that they didn't spend any money to update it. Poor fuel economy because they didn't update it's powertrain technology. It carried on for many years mostly unchanged, like the Model T. If designs remain the same for too many years, customers look elsewhere for something new.

As a side note, too bad International Harvester discontinued the Scout back in 1980, they would sell like hotcakes today had they been able to continue development & production.

[Chris Pile]

The reason Ford gave for ending production was that its compact pickup didn't sell well enough to be profitable.

That's NOT EXACTLY what they said. The Ranger cost almost as much to produce as the full size trucks, but Ford couldn't ask as much for the smaller truck. So... cut out the small numbers and go with the market leader. It's a bean counter move, but I understood it.