I just heard on the news tonight that FORD made one of the lowest sales this year in 100 years of business. FORD is now looking to ask Toyota for help and is estimated to take as long as two years for FORD to start making a profit again.
IMO FORD is going to take alot longer than a couple of years to make a profit. People need to have faith in their product and until then, ford isn't going to get the sales they want. For Ford to get faith back to consumers, they have to recreate a lost reputation of creating a reliable, powerful automobile in a decent price. Now the consumers are spending more money on foreign automobiles because they don't want to be stuck on a freeway somewhere because the fuel injectors stop working after 50k miles, for example. I would never buy a modern ford because I personally don't have faith in their practicallity as an automobile and reliability. Its going to take several years for ford to recreate a good reputation. I saw the new mustang for the 05 model and I thought it looked awesome because of its retro design. My brother rented an 06 stang when visiting from Ireland and that car, to say the least, was a piece. Its all this engine and noise and gas but no pep what so ever. The rear seat was stupidly small for how big the car is and the hatchback is too low, my head would hit the rear windshield everytime we go over a bump. I asked if I could drive it and I was disappointed. At 210 hp the car had a 0-60 of my corolla. The car is definitely torquey I admit, I lightly tap the gas from a stop and the car just leans back instantly. But when I revved the engine in neutral, the car twisted noticeably. I can tell right then and there that the chasis cannot handle the torque of the engine and in turn, twisting. I couldn't even squeal the tires at all! A BMW with the same hp has better accel, cornering, fuel economy, reliability, braking, interior space, just better quality. But I suppose thats due to the BMW costing about 8-12 grand more. I still haven't figured out which $25000-$30000 car that ford or any other american automobile is suppose to compete with the BMW 3 series pricing around that range.
I know many people may disagree with my comment, thats cool. And Im just stereotyping here for giggles, but central US and the South and parts of the East like cheap cars, mainly american for cheap quality and cheap price. But living in california, especially southern california is very conscientious about cars and for a mustang to have all this hype before and after its release, this car....in a lack of a better phrase....blows.