Ford to stop selling sedans in North America

[nhoj]

http://autoweek.com/article/car-news...able-crossover

Doesn't NASCAR use Fusions?

[Chupaca]

You have to go with what sells and where it sells best. I am sure NASCAR will have no problem finding something to replace them...

[jcthorne]

Ford already announced that the Mustang will replace the Fusion in NASCAR. The car stays the same, only the paint changes on the race car.

[ARtraveler]

It is going to be interesting to see if others of the "big three" join in. I have not bought a "car" since the late 90's (Dodge Intrepid). Since then, it has been all SUV types. Subaru Forester, Outback, Tribeca.

[PrairieSpyder]

It is going to be interesting to see if others of the "big three" join in. I have not bought a "car" since the late 90's (Dodge Intrepid). Since then, it has been all SUV types. Subaru Forester, Outback, Tribeca.

I used to use the "big three" to explain oligopoly to my Econ 101 students and they had no idea what I was talking about! Thanks for the Throw-back Thursday!!

[ARtraveler]

I used to use the "big three" to explain oligopoly to my Econ 101 students and they had no idea what I was talking about! Thanks for the Throw-back Thursday!!

My pleasure.

[johnsimion]

http://autoweek.com/article/car-news...able-crossover

Doesn't NASCAR use Fusions?

The Fusion currently sells at a rate of about 16,000 cars per month. The Focus currently sells at about 12,000-15,000 cars per month, and even the Taurus sells over 3000 cars per month [Source: http://www.goodcarbadcar.net]. By comparison, Honda has sold between 17,000 and 24,000 Accords during 2018, and around 30,000 cars a month last year.

It makes no sense to me why Ford would willingly give up potentially 33,000 sales PER MONTH. If those cars are not profitable, then I'd say there is a big problem with Ford itself. Versions of the Focus and Fusion are sold in Europe and presumably still will be, because they're quite popular there, so there wouldn't be much additional development cost to continue selling U.S. versions of them. You can't say it's a Union issue, because the Fusion is NOT made in a UAW plant but almost all the Ford SUVs ARE made in Union plants [information from the UAW itself, see https://aflcio.org/UnionCars]. I guess they hope to sell enough highly-profitable SUVs to make up for it, but that's a really big gamble compared to a certain loss of 33,000 cars a month. There's got to be something bad going on with Ford for them to make a decision like this.

It also makes me a little sad to see an American company abandoning the car market and leaving it to the Japanese companies and Hyundai (Chrysler already abandoned it, leaving GM pretty much the only American company still playing in the field).

I have to say, though, that Ford kind of brought this on themselves. I personally stopped buying Fords after the last FOUR Fords I bought all had radios go bad about a month after the warranty expired: Ranger, Explorer, Probe GT, and Focus. And I really liked the Focus other than the radio issue, but fool me FOUR times, shame on me.

[Bob Denman]

As long as they're still supplying the RV industry with E-450, and F-53 chassis: I'll be a happy camper!

[spacetiger]

The decision will take a few years to be "done".

What I find interesting is what if... gas goes over $5 or $6/gal? Then, the smaller cars would sell in bigger numbers. The medium and large SUVs and some cross-overs sales will suffer. Then, the wisdom of the decision will come back and the quoted line will be ",,, it seemed like a good decision at the time..."

Jerry

[Orange Spyder Man]

if oil prices continue to rise... the shale operators will jump back into production ... if that happens...watch the oil prices spiral downwards...

The decision will take a few years to be "done".

What I find interesting is what if... gas goes over $5 or $6/gal? Then, the smaller cars would sell in bigger numbers. The medium and large SUVs and some cross-overs sales will suffer. Then, the wisdom of the decision will come back and the quoted line will be ",,, it seemed like a good decision at the time..."

Jerry

[spacetiger]

if oil prices continue to rise... the shale operators will jump back into production ... if that happens...watch the oil prices spiral downwards...

There will be a lag in their return because the low prolonged gas prices drove them under. Investment to get them back on line will be faced with the reality you cite, so that will keep the investors away. Gas prices can get into $5 and stay there a while...