Oh Dear ! Ford

mopar

I can, I don't like that many Fords. By the way, have any of you guys heard of a:

Qvale?
Stanguilini?
Pescarolo?

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The-tried-a-backflip-and-didn't-land-it-kid.

Wurm

I've heard of them. They'll be the new guys on Disco's '07 team.

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"Bush is the first President to admit to an impeachable offense."

- John Dean, former Counsel to the President (Nixon)

The aim of big corporations is to separate fools from their money all of the time and ordinary folks from their money most of the time. The rest of us must fend for ourselves.

mopar

Haha, good laugh. Their sports cars...

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The-tried-a-backflip-and-didn't-land-it-kid.

ellno#1

Let us get a different focus here gentlemen, gas guzzling V8's are dinosaurs, they deserve the flick, so do all motor vehicles that rely on Petrol/Gasoline whatever you like to call it.
The way of the future is Hydrogen or even Electric, non polluting, less noisy, they can go just as fast and far, it's been done in your country the USA.
GM even produced n Electric car but because of the Oil Companies pressure they were scrapped. You might ask why is this so, well the oil compnaies want us to keep using their product despite the scientific evidence that present day cars are responsible for a huge percentage of air pollution. They love the huge profits they make from selling this stuff and don't want to relinquish that control, control means power, power means control, control means money, money means power, it's a self perpetuating circle, and we are all slaves to it. Tell me we're not??
Back to cars sales, look at China, the emerging giant with more cars being sold there than anywhere else on the planet. Despite the Communist Tag, China's Administration have embraced the Western Way of Free Enterprise/Capitalism. Communism doesn't work, look at the USSR and it's demise there.
Back to cars again, there is a website in the USA that is concerned with electric cars, they convert older bangers into all electric jobs. One in particular a Datsun 1200 utility, was converted with a ten horse power electric motor, the batteries were installed under the floor of the tray, this served a twofold purpose, one it was convenient, the second it holds the back wheels down during hectic accelleration. This little Datto was taken to a drag strip and blew away a fully worked Chevy Commaro (Excuse spelling) over the quarter.
For the non believers "Google In" "Electric Cars Conversions USA" you might have to fiddle around here, maybe something like that site, have a look at what's being done by private individuals. Then think what could be achieved by the Auto Manufacturers, if they got really serious about producing cars that didn't rely on Gasoline/Petrol or the like.
Now don't get me wrong I love a gas guzzler too, well did until I sold it a couple of months ago, an LH Holden, it had a 4.2 litre Chevy, Holleys, Cams 8 into one exhaust 2.5"bore and all that big noise stuff, but it was costing me a fortune to run not only in fuel but registration and tyres. It was a good looking horse but when the money is tight one has to cut the cloth according to the way it fits.
It was the first GM car I have ever owned I usually go for FORD, however there's nothing wrong with rice burners, Mazda RX8, Subaru WRX Impressa, Toyota Supra. But if you want a really hairy drive, get into nostalgia, a GT 40 Ford, I'm informed that Ford are doing a limited production run of these, using a bit more modern technology, I drove one of those beats many years ago..but that's another story.

Rickyrab

Cars get in the way of bikes, so why do I have a bike tire pump that depends on a car for its electricity? dagnabbit.

mopar

What happens when your car is no where near?

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The-tried-a-backflip-and-didn't-land-it-kid.

djk202020

Electric is a waste of time and money. If we are going to change to an alternative fuel it should be hydrogen. Electric comes from the burning of fossil fuels and is expensive with out many benefits. With out complete government regulation a switch will never be made. Once consumers start to adopt alternate energy the price of oil will fall through the floor because there will be no demand which will push people back into SUV and trucks. It is already happening.

The problem with Ford and GM is the fact that they have spread themselves too far. This is especially true for Ford. Just because you are good in one segment of the market doesn’t mean you can be good in all of them. The second problem is that product mix sucks Ford has 17 different cars for 2007 how many SUV crossover vehicles can you have? Consumers get tired of searching through that shit. Ford should concentrate on making fewer vehicles better rather than many vehicles that are not so good.( of course everyone I know who owns a Ford has close to or over 100,000 miles engines last forever if you take care of them) Looks and styling SUCK HELLO you see what the competition is selling yet you keep rolling out the same lack luster looking cars year after year.

GM did do a good job bringing Cadillac back from the dead and look how they did it; repositioned the image of the brand. This is no longer an old person car but rather a sporty luxury performance brand.

Its frustrating to see some drowning and they refuse to take the life saver. The market has changed the American Revolution campaign that GM is using for Chevy might hit a certain segment but consumers are more aware of the world now American car manufactures will have to start using other tactics instead of straight muscle and American appeal. The brands will survive but they are going to have to produce a smaller number of cars and have less of a market share.


"You can have it in any color as long as it's black"~ Ford
The bottom line is if you are the only comapny in the market you can produce whatever you want and it will sell. Ford still hasnt realized that their is competition now and the consumer's voice should be heard.

ellno#1

I agree with your slant on this problem with one reservation, electricity can be generated by Solar Panels, they get better as time goes by, the batteries to store the power also improves with time, just look at the steps taken in the telecommunications industry.
Hydrogen is the best alternative however it too has it's generation, storage and distribution problems as well, but they are not insurmountable.
As for the rest, I think you hit the nail correctly, smack bang on the head.
GM are already streets ahead, in design, colour and innovation, unfortunately.
The Australian designed product will soon be on your streets, nice looking vehicles and a joy to drive, but once again a gas guzzler of sorts.

djk202020

Agree with you on the electric thing it is not a dead technology and there are alot of advancements happening. Considering that it is easily adoptable technology for car manf it is a step in the right direction but not an answer to the problem. I had to do a semester long report on hydrogen, electic and methane. Hydrogen just looks like the best bet for the future imho.

Bro Deal

I am highly skeptical of the so-called hydrogen economy. Hydrogen is expensive to produce, dificult to transport, and has low energy density. It seems to me that the most practical thing to do is radically reduce the weight of cars to a thousand pounds or less using plastics and composites then use very small combustion engines or electric motors. It is extremely inefficient for people to drive a four thousand pound vehicle a few miles to pick up thirty pounds of groceries.

I though there was a chance the chinese would be smart enough to use their authoritarian government to position themselves for the future, but nope. They are going down the same dead end the rest of us are.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

ellno#1

There is a website in the USA that deals with this phenomenon of hydrogen power for cars, it is at pressent only an additive to a gasoline engine but a step in the right direction. It can save a third of fuel cost per week by installing one of these electrolysis converteres, (using water and electrolysis) to produce hydrogen. www.hydrogen-boost.com they sell the plans, I think.
The parts are available through your local electronics store and if your so inclined it can be a home project job to build and install one of these under the hood on the regular car.
I saw an documentary of China's booming ecconomy and the cars are just one small part of the equation, with sales exceeding that of the rest of the world, capitalism grasped with great enthusiasm, as you say a pity too.

Bro Deal

Scam.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

djk202020

Even if you use very small combustion engines you would still be using a non renewable energy source. That is the main problem it is going to run out and we are gonna be screwed well maybe not us but then again I am only 21. Also in that scenario you are asking people to give up a life style and you are asking auto manf to remake a vehicle completly not just the engine and fuel system this would lead to much higer costs. If these small light cars travled as fast as the cars do now there may be alot more auto deaths, I say MAY becasue new materials could be better than steel and alum but things like carbon fiber would be expensive. What about other transportation like ships trains and trucks that have to move frieght and tons of weight? Biodiesel perhaps?

You can buy a hydrogen car right now if you really want it. They are acctualy safer than cars that run on refined oils. Watch a video of a hydrogen car on fire and you can see why.
" Because it is so light, hydrogen disperses and floats skyward when leaked—it won't pool or soak into clothing like gasoline, just waiting to ignite. (Spilled hydrogen won't soak into the earth and pollute ground water either, or cause an environmental disaster like the Exxon Valdez.)"
"when a carbon-based fuel like gasoline burns, glowing hot soot particles transfer the heat to its surroundings—potentially including you. But because hydrogen contains no carbon, it burns cleanly without a residue of hot soot, producing little radiant energy. This means that a victim would have to be practically in the flame in order to get burned."