"Ford Motor Company was one of the first American corporations to seek help from Deming. In 1981, Ford recruited Deming to help jump-start its quality movement. Ford's sales were falling. Between 1979 and 1982, Ford had incurred $3 billion in losses. Deming questioned their company's culture and the way its managers operated. To Ford's surprise, Deming talked not about quality but about management. He told Ford that management actions were responsible for 85% of all problems in developing better cars. After 1982, Ford came out with a profitable line of cars, the Taurus-Sable line. In a letter to Autoweek Magazine, Donald Petersen, then Ford Chairman said, "We are moving toward building a quality culture at Ford and the many changes that have been taking place here have their roots directly in Dr. Deming's teachings." [13] By 1986, Ford had become the most profitable American auto company. Its earnings, for the first time since the 1920s had exceeded those of arch rivals General Motors (GM). Ford had come to lead the American automobile industry in improvements. Ford's following years' earnings confirmed that its success was not a fluke for its earnings had continued to exceed GM and Chrysler's."
"In December 1993, W. Edwards Deming died in his sleep at his Washington home about 3 a.m. due to "natural causes". "
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
Deming did his job and did it well. Unfortunately he was no longer around when Ford started it SUV push and suffered for it when oil prices spiked.
Um . . . NO. Ford's problem isn't a lack of high-brow aspirations in limited production vehicles (Ford GT). It's a lack of R&D and execution at producing mainstream vehicles.
Ford needs to make BETTER Jags. Ultimately, Jag is NEVER going to compete directly with AM (from a price or desirability perspective). Although, I wouldn't be surprised if AM didn't create an entry model starting around 80k.
The replacement for the S-type is pretty hot, but it's success will be dependent on the execution. Regardless, it will NOT be a 6-figure car. Jag is far more likely to cannibalize XJ sales than threaten AM.
Jags future relies on producing a competitive flagship sedan (either the new S-type or next gen XJ), competitive coupe/cabrio (new XK is decent), and something resembling entry-level vehicles (starting 40k) . . . probably sedan AND crossover on same platform.
The hot parts from the entry level are then shared with Lincoln for their next generation of sedans and crossovers (starting 30k).
WhipperSnapper
Lifer
- Oct 30, 2004
- 11,442
- 32
- 91
What's the problem? They want to sell fewer vehicles more profitably. I think that makes some business sense, especially when the sales that are going to be lost were unprofitable sales (selling excess inventory at a loss).
I stand corrected. Aston Martin sold 7000 cars globally in 2006 as opposed to the 42 cars they sold in the year before Ford bought them.
It doesn't change the fact that Ford has to figure out how to sell 7 million cars at a profit.
It doesn't change the fact that Ford has to figure out how to sell 7 million cars at a profit.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 22K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
News NVIDIA and Intel to Develop AI Infrastructure and Personal Computing Products- Started by poke01
- Replies: 411
-
Facebook
Twitter