Originally posted by Tony2005:
And this will only hurt more.
http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw122854_20051020.htm
Interesting quote from the article: "Ford estimates that 500,000 customers leave Ford each year because the company has been without an entry midsize sedan since dropping the Contour." 
I think the fusion is a solid vehicle, a bit on the boring and utilitarian side from a design perspective, as is the 500 sedan, but well built from what I've read. I think GM and Ford continue to be short sighted and focus too much on short term quarterly profit and loss versus gaining market share long term which turns into healthy profits long term. Like with hybrids, Toyota is losing money on every one they sell, but long term, they are building a huge market for themselves that will turn big profits as the manufacturing costs come down over time.
Ironically, looking at the Big 3, I see Ford as best poised to survive and take advantage of market trends toward smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles, however I believe the Big 3 as a whole are behind the eight ball compared to the Japanese and Korean manufacturers. Generally the 1990's were great years for the big three with the SUV craze, profits were good. Largely the Big 3 sat on their laurels and let the foreign manufacturers eat away at the small and midsize vehicle segments. Anyone who has a brain could have figured out that higher fuel prices would drive us away from SUV's sooner or later, short term thinking once again. The rest of the world pays 2-3 times what we're used to paying for fuel, and only part of that is due to higher taxes on fuel. Higher fuel prices are here to stay IMHO, get used to them. While DC seems to be really hot right now, they are dropping the only small car nameplate (Neon) they had, so I don't see DC well poised to gain marketshare in the small and midsized vehicle segment. GM's got a few decent offerings (Cobalt, Saturns, G6, etc.) but not what Ford has to offer IMHO. We've seen Ford and GM do the management shuffle recently, hopefully we're going to see some long term thinking come out of these changes.
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