Consumer perspective on FoMoCo's move to sell off PAG brands.

eL eS

eL eS

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We have all questioned FoMoCo's thinking on technical and bussines decisions; I have been following stories that gravitate around Ford selling off different business units primarily the PAG products and can't help but wonder will this help them refocus or center themseleves on the core products.

Do you all think things will get better for FoMoCo if they do not have these other product lines to worry about. Or will thinsg get worse considering some of these PAG products actually make money for Ford.

Austin MArtin is no longer FoMoCo owned and they are trying to sell Volvo and I am sure they would sell Jag and Land Rover given their need to appear to be in the balck at least on paper. But without the outside influence of these brands would they survive or whither on the vine.
 
eL eS said:
Austin MArtin is no longer FoMoCo owned and they are trying to sell Volvo and I am sure they would sell Jag and Land Rover given their need to appear to be in the balck at least on paper. But without the outside influence of these brands would they survive or whither on the vine.
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By all accounts, you have that backwards: they've been shopping Jag and Land Rover, but Volvo is the one that other makers are interested in buying (and the one Ford is showing no interest in selling). Volvo is being used as collateral for the lines of credit for Ford's turn-around plans, which makes its sale very problematic (as Mulally himself said).

Furthermore, Ford does not separate the profits and losses of the PAG brands, but the strong speculation is that Volvo and Aston Martin were the only parts of PAG that were showing (or ever showed) a profit. This certainly explains why they're not getting much interest in Jag and Land Rover, and why those two marques combined aren't valued at much more than Aston was--if they're even worth as much as Aston. Added to that you have the fact that Volvo platforms play a key role in the current and near-term plans of Ford in North America and Europe; put it all together, and you see that selling Volvo makes no sense whatsoever.
 
yeah I realized the typo shortly after submitting the thread but didnt see the need to correct it given the abstract nature of my question but thanks for the correction.

Well we know already of the Lincoln and Jag integration and others may not have know the ford volvo integration but yes that is a major issue and it definitely does not make much sesnse to see volvo sold off given that.

But brass tax... do you think if they divest themselves from these other brands if it will help them with the legacy brands?
 
Hmm, could be. Look at Toyota, Nissan, Honda... they each have one base brand, one luxury brand, and perhaps one other.
 
owlman said:
Hmm, could be. Look at Toyota, Nissan, Honda... they each have one base brand, one luxury brand, and perhaps one other.
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Yeah esp in the case of Yota with offspring aka scion, toyota and Lexus. Nissan has a good core keeping with two as does honda; I am not aware of any other brands they produce as of now.

I think Ford and GM really screwed the pooch when they went on the buying sprees they did. Maybe they thought it would lend more credibility to thier brand names after all the crap they produced in the 70's.

I think it will help them. I am sure they thought they could capitalize on the unification of process and platforms and found that when you spread the butter that thin over the toast you only end up with slightly buttered toast.

I thought lincoln was liberated when they were removed from PAG but we have yet to see that in the show room. Maybe Volvo is the anvil hanging over the door. I used to think it was Jag.
 
This is what I encountered from the sales point of view. Talked with a few salesman about how they saw the ford products and even the ford workplace. You may not think their opinion matters, but someone has to sell the cars, trucks, etc. They both agreed on 3 major things, unappealing designs, name changes, lack of options. 1st opinion, felt like they were outweighed when they had to put a focus against the other small sized cars. Focus vs civic, tc, rsx, corolla, and here recently the cobalt. now that they have the fusion, they feel more competitive. Now the 500, or is it a Taurus. On this one they said, they just now are getting the older middle class to buy them and Ford is going to change it back to the Taurus. The problem with this they feel is the 500 is overpriced and going to be difficult to sell with the well know name of Taurus.."Also said the customers that come in and write a check for a 500 arent going to even think about buying a Taurus" "Everyone used to have a taurus, low to middle class, this was an affordable car." Dont know if anyone has drove one yet but damn, this isnt the Taurus I used to know. Now on lack of options, 1 salesman said the Fusion seems to have the most options available with the smallest price difference between the models, but the trucks are either loaded or unloaded, they are all pretty much the same. We change the wheels and add leather we add 10 grand to the price. Motor options are pretty much the same, no srt-8, no srt-10, no "HEMI". What are they doing about a hybrid, anyone know? One guy said, main thing that keeps Ford alive is their Fleet accounts. For the mustang, they will always sell "most affordable sports car for all ages".
 
No doubt you have to have a sales team that feels good about the product and you mention some good points. Name changes and options. It seems they are having an identity crisis of sorts with the taurus. at least the mustang remained the Mustang and it has the good fortune of being a life long legacy vs the camaro.

At the end of the day though sales people will sell just about anything in order to make quota, God Bless em though becasue I can't seel crap... heck I have a hard time getting clients to use free demo hardware :eek:
 
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