Why Ford's sales are down

My sister has chided me for not blogging enough and says blog readers everywhere want a new entry. So today I write about her least favorite consumer item—car shopping. She has worked harder than most to avoid utilizing one. An admirable trait as they make up the largest chunk of our environmental carbon footprints.

Now I on the other hand live 40 miles from my office before I even begin making the rounds to see my staff throughout the city. My wife and I own three vehicles all of them getting fairly long in the tooth. Gas prices have been going up and I now carry two large bills with me each week to pay for gas because cash is ten cents cheaper. So I have begun to think about my next move. Although she is a very green tree hugger, my wife doesn’t want to move to the city. I can see her thinking so the next move appears to be fuel efficiency.

My wife loves the hybrids on principle. I think many of them are over priced. I often think from the pocketbook perspective rather than from the environmentalist’s principled perspective.

Car shopping has always been an unpleasant experience in which the dealer wants to know how much can you pay and does not want to give a bottom line price. As a pocketbook consumer I want to know how much is this thing going to cost and to be left to figure out whether I am willing to break the piggy bank to pay for it.

I am a big guy and Ford’s Escape Hybrid appealed. They cost difference between the hybrid and non hybrid versions did not seem to be as great as with some other brands and I began looking into them.

The first thing I learned is that there are not many of them out there. An internet search showed very few of them in the Midwest and when I expressed interest Ford’s web site offered an “internet price.” Turns out an internet price means they will call and set a “VIP” appointment to discuss price and evaluate your potential trade in. I allowed myself to be set up with a 6:00 appointment and made arrangements for my wife to come.

CNNMoney.com reports that Ford’s sales are down 28% from a year ago and I can see why (http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/01/news/companies/auto_sales/index.htm?cnn=yes).
I showed up for the appointment learning, as we got out of the car, that my daughter had spilled an entire bottle of water on the back seat and my digital camera. I was now officially grumpy.

We go into the dealer, I announce who I am, and they don’t know who I was to see. I am now grumpy and put out. Things do not look good and I am ready to leave. I go out to look at the lot while my wife waits to speak to someone. Eventually my wife comes out reporting they are trying to find the vehicle. As we look around we are struck by what poor mileage the cars Ford sells have compared to Toyota and Hondas etc. Eventually we learn that they have sold the one used hybrid that started this contact but of course we could talk about what I want to pay and initiate a search


I have owned three Fords and I am about to buy something different. I’ll be looking at one of those foreign made gas sippers that don’t require hybrid technology to get high mileage. My wife will again tell me about her sister’s car as she sells the Toyota Prius.

When I was a child kids whose parents owned something else would say FORD stood for, “Fix Or Repair Daily.” I now believe it stands for “Focused On Reducing Deliveries.” I understand why Ford’s sales are down. They don’t know their customers and have lost them.