I’ve been keeping a close watch on the fortunes of the US auto industry for a number of years, but have been particularly watchful over the past several months when the financial markets collapsed jeopardizing General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
Quite honestly, I find Chrysler to be the automotive version of a dead man walking, a company that is no longer relevant or able to survive 
on its own even with government help. Not that I don’t want Chrysler to be around, but it cannot continue in its present form.
America’s Industry Icons
That leaves the domestic industry to General Motors and to the Ford Motor Company, a pair of century old icons who helped shape an all new industry and whose influence is still being felt today.
Beyond their relative close age, the comparison ends there. At least when it comes to survivability probability.
Both automakers lost billions in 2008, but the fortunes of GM are much more desperate than Ford. GM has some cash on hand, but of the $14 million in possession at year end, four billion was a federal loan. Since then, GM has acquired an additional $9.4 billion from US taxpayers and is looking for billions more.
Ford Has More Money
Though Ford would have loved to have gotten a line of credit from the feds, they were turned down. That hasn’t hurt the automaker who still finished with $15.7 billion at year end. Unlike GM, all of those funds belong to Ford.
GM has several new products on their way including the Chevy Camaro, Cadillac CTS wagon and SRX crossover. Beyond that, there isn’t anything major coming until late in 2010 when the company may finally have the electric Chevy Volt available.
Nice Product Mix For Ford
Ford, however, has several more products on their way and they’ll be arriving sooner. The next generation Mustang will debut just as the Camaro comes out, the Fusion/Milan (along with the Lincoln MKS) are all new with the first two featuring a hybrid model, the Lincoln MKT crossover rolls out this summer — suddenly Lincoln is a relevant luxury brand again — while about the same time the all new Ford Taurus (pictured) and Mercury Sable will be released.
I didn’t mention the Transit Connect nor the Fiesta and a host of smaller cars coming in 2010, but the buzz for Ford is clearly positive. In fact, I cannot think a period of time in the past twenty years when Ford has had so many new and important models on the way.
Winning the PR Battle
Another area where Ford clearly has had the upper hand over the past several months is with public relations. From GM, we’ve been subjected to a steady stream of if you don’t support the bail out, we’ll collapse… while Ford has pretty much stayed on the sidelines.
We know Ford went to Washington, DC asking for a credit line but we later learned that the company didn’t pout when their request was turned down. Clearly, there is a difference in attitude with upper management perhaps lining up with who has the right products for the moment. That would be Ford.
Not All Clear Yet
Ford isn’t out of the woods yet and, with the economy still in bad shape, could find itself in worse trouble down the road. But, given that the Swedes are helping Ford with Volvo while not doing the same for GM with Saab, the prospects for the Blue Oval appear to be a bit brighter. And, if Ford should sell Volvo for a nice price by this summer, the company will have some additional funds to tap. Not so for GM.
1 comments:
The Lincoln you're refering to in the following line: "The next generation Mustang will debut just as the Camaro comes out, the Fusion/Milan (along with the Lincoln MKS) are all new with the first two featuring a hybrid model." is not the MKS. It's the new generation MKZ. Gotta make that disinction.
Post a Comment