Originally Posted by
Segnosaur
Are you suggesting that their withdrawl from the North American car market is only temporary and that they'll eventually return with new car lines?
Apart from the fact that Ford has never given any indication that that's what they plan to do, I can see several major problems with that:
- Economic downturns/oil price spikes can happen suddenly. If their plan was to come out with new cars later, they may run into problems if the downturn happens before their planned re-entry into the market
- new car lines often have new problems. By re-introducing all new vehicle lines they are guaranteeing quality will suffer for at least a year or 2 until they get any bugs worked out.
Good points. Maybe they plan never to renter the market; I don't know but it seems foolish to completely cede the car segments to their competitors. They are either planning to roll out new models strategically or their no-cars strategy is going to have to change rapidly when the market shifts. In the short-term, it's still a smart strategy to focus on their strengths but it would seem prudent to keep car concepts in their back pocket in case the market shifts.
If I were running Ford, that's the strategy I would take: Something isn't working in our car line up, time to start over.