Ford's biggest opportunity
I'm in California for a week and the vehicles on the road are distinctly different from those in Michigan.
First, they are generally older. Second, they are generally foreign brands. Third, they are generally vanilla designs - one small, bland vehicle after another. I walked down the local street and here are the pictures of the first 4 cars I passed, and the string went on. The only exceptions were a 1990s vintage Crown Victoria and a newer F-350 dual rear wheel pickup.
While it is true that General Motors Co. is working on new vehicles such as the Chevy Volt that might appeal to the affluently eco-conscious - those who prefer to spend exorbitant amounts of money in an effort to look like they are not spending an exorbitant amount of money - Ford has a strategy of mixing some inexpensive hybrid vehicles with a lot of inexpensive turbo-charged small vehicles that should pay handsome dividends in California. The biggest difference besides price is style, and the new, small Ford vehicles will have that in spades.
Still, it will be a hard sell in a state that remembers the antagonism between the Detroit manufacturers and California regulators, but Ford has become a leader in providing the kind of vehicles that California regulators demand. Now Ford will have to come up with the right marketing to create consumer interest and demand for those vehicles.
It's a lot easier to break a relationship than remake one.
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Style is everything
"Buy American" doesn't fly out here on the Left Coast...we buy for Style and Performance out here. Ford, and the other Domestic manufacturers, are going to have to learn that good looking cars will sell every day of the week. Lee Iacocca proved with the Mustang that you could build an inexpensive, good looking car that the market would flock too. GM replicated that with the Nova but it seems like that lesson was quickly forgotten as the 70's rolled on.
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