{"id":179116,"date":"2018-05-12T20:17:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-13T01:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2018\/05\/12\/they-have-made-this-error-before\/"},"modified":"2018-05-12T20:17:00","modified_gmt":"2018-05-13T01:17:00","slug":"they-have-made-this-error-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2018\/05\/12\/they-have-made-this-error-before\/","title":{"rendered":"They Have Made this Error Before"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Repeating the short-sighted decisions made by US auto makers the last time gas prices were Ford has decided the future is trucks and SUVs, and so <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/ford-says-only-mustang-focus-will-live-on-in-north-america-as-it-drops-slow-selling-sedans-2018-04-25\">will be abandoning conventional passenger cars<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Sounds like the, &#8220;Small cars equal small profits,&#8221; mentality that nearly destroyed auto makers in the 1970s and again in the 1990s, after oil prices spiked:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: blue;\">Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it will stop investing in sedans in North America, bowing to U.S. drivers\u2019 seemingly never-ending zest for crossovers and pickup trucks.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span> <span style=\"color: blue;\">Ford&nbsp; shifted focus on \u201cbuilding a winning portfolio\u201d of vehicles, by which it meant no more of its slow-selling sedans at least for North America.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span> <span style=\"color: blue;\">U.S. drivers have gravitated to SUVs and pickup trucks for years, thanks in part to these vehicles\u2019 relative fuel economy improvements and price drops. Many car buyers also report enjoying the high-riding seating position of an SUV or pickup truck.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span> <span style=\"color: blue;\">\u201cFord realized it can\u2019t be everything to everyone, and in today\u2019s market that could be OK,\u201d said Jessica Caldwell, an analyst with Edmunds. \u201cThe key to success is focusing on where your customers are and where your strengths lie, and for Ford doubling down on trucks and SUVs could be just what the brand needs.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span> <span style=\"color: blue;\">The move isn\u2019t without risk, however. Ford is willingly alienating some of its car owners and conceding market share in segments that, while declining, are still relevant to some buyers, she said. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>When, and it&#8217;s always when, gasoline prices spike again, those people trading in Ford trucks and SUVs for more efficient vehicles will not be able to find those new vehicles at their Ford dealer, and so loyal customers will go somewhere else.<\/p>\n<p>They are repeat their historical mistakes, over, and over, and over, and over again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Repeating the short-sighted decisions made by US auto makers the last time gas prices were Ford has decided the future is trucks and SUVs, and so will be abandoning conventional passenger cars. Sounds like the, &#8220;Small cars equal small profits,&#8221; mentality that nearly destroyed auto makers in the 1970s and again in the 1990s, after &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[542,365,389,406],"class_list":["post-179116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-automobile","tag-business","tag-history","tag-stupid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179116"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}