This is Ford?

[Ohio XB]

Some interesting points from news about Ford's latest quarter and year to date....

While the hybrid car industry has declined in sales 14% this year in the US, Ford has increased hybrid sales by 73%. Sixty percent of Ford Fusion Hybrid buyers were not previously Ford car owners.

In September Taurus sales were up 60% from a year ago.

In the third quarter of 2009, Ford had the lowest TGW (Things Gone Wrong/1,000 vehicles) among all full line auto makers inculding Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Chrysler, and GM (highest initial quality).

Ford improved "Customer Satisfaction" 3% to 80%, trailing only Honda (82%), and Toyota (81%). This 3% year over year improvement is unrivaled by any full line manufacturer.

Ford's TGW's have dropped for 5 consecutive years from 1,960/1,000 in 2004 to 1,206/1,000 in 2009.

Milan, Sable, Taurus X, Super Duty, and Mountaineer are all segment leaders for TGW's. (You may remember in another thread I pointed out how a journalist singled out the Fusion as being a "best" car but is built in Mexico rather than in the US by the UAW. Well, all these vehicles, except for the Milan, are built in UAW plants in the US. I told you that journalist cleverly left them out.)

Ford Taurus, Lincoln MKT earned "Top Safety Pick" from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and Ford continues to have more "Top Safety Pick" ratings than any other auto maker.

As of the end of September, Ford reduced Automotive Structural Costs by $4.6 billion, exceding the calendar year goal of $4 billion and is expected to total $5 billion by year's end.



Here's a good video with spokesman Mike Rowe, of the TV show "Dirty Jobs" (where he goes and performs someone's "dirty job" for a day getting filthy, like regular hard working people do), touring the Chicago Assembly plant where the Taurus is built. It highlights one particular aspect of assembly I've been wanting to tell you about that REALLY is responsible for a lot of the improvement in quality, yet it is only ONE of the many many changes. It is technology and thinking.....and making quality happen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52VyZ...layer_embedded



Steve