alt Hacker NewsNot surprised.
They pulled back out of the EU and other markets like South America and BYD opened up an assembly plant in Brazil.
Turn back the clock and Ford ruled the EU with saloons like the Escort, Mondeo and later the Focus - they were caught unawares with shift to compact SUV's and had the popular Ecosport but never invested in the product line and it was left to wither and die.
They are teaming up with Renault to use their EV platform to maintain a token presence in the EU but consumers today are smarter and more informed and will not buy badge engineered Fords.
The formula is so simple, but complicated to achieve underneath: sell the best products.
That’s all you have to do. But so many companies resort to financial games and short term business gimmicks rather than believing that they can make the best products and putting focus and drive into that goal (not just money!)
Stellantis can make great products but for the most part they just won’t. They actively refuse to. Same deal with Ford.
GM is doing well with EVs because they actually make good products. The Silverado EV is the best EV truck on the market, Cadillac makes the best luxury EVs on the market[1], and the Honda Prologue (made by GM) is a sales star because it’s a good product that knows its market. Even the Chevy Trax is a great product because of the sheer impossibility of its value proposition: nobody can compete with the amount of things that vehicle gives you for the price.
Ford half-assed their sedans and bowed out of that market and now their supposed focus on SUVs is not good enough because none of their SUVs, gas or electric or hybrid, give you any reason to buy them. They are half-assing all their vehicles until they reach their inevitable demise.
Why is anyone buying an Expedition over a Telluride, Grand Highlander, or Chevy Suburban derivative?
Why is anyone buying an Explorer over a RAV4, CRV, etc.
The only thing Ford makes that’s any good is the F-150, Maverick, Bronco and Mustang (very niche). This means they have basically zero cars to sell outside the US.
[1] Yes, better than Tesla and Lucid: more luxurious and isolated with better interior materials, fewer reliability problems, better ergonomics and physical controls, stronger dealer and service network.