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Do you know why the cars in the UK cost so much ? Come back to me when you figure it out .... I know why.



Aside from the different tax structure over there, the majority of the difference in price is related to the quality of the finished product. There are also much higher prices associated with distribution of product as well as some loss of scale economics.

But I fail to see your point.

I never said those cars weren't worth what Ford charges for them. I said that the vast majority of consumers here are not willing to pay for them.

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The fact though that Subaru & Mitsubishi can intoduce low volume hi performance cars in the $30k bracket and sell them shows there is a market for them. I doubt that they are selling these cars at a loss. Kudos to Dodge for introducing a domestic competitor to them. I hope there are more.



And who pretty much introduced the idea of Hi-Performance Marketable versions of stock manufactured automobiles -- that's right Ford, with it's SVT program. Granted, it kind of got left behind in recent years and has been eclipsed by the likes of the WRX, EVO, and SRT-4, but the program is still there and the SVT Focus is meant to compete with these cars, albeit not that well.

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I doubt that they are selling these cars at a loss.



I would be surprised if they're not losing money.

In marketing terms, those cars would be what's called a "loss leader". You take a hit on those automobiles in order to draw attention to your brand-name and hopefully sell more cars. I'll guarantee you that Dodge sells considerably more regular Neons to young males now because of the SRT-4. And it doesn't take a genius to figure that, if they're even making a dime on the SRT-4, the profit margin is definently a whole hell of a lot smaller on it than on a regular one.

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Imagine how many cars Ford would sell if they didn't have a single automobile line under $20,000. They'd price themselves right out of the business.



i dont agree with this. what about the car companies like Lexus, Infinity, Mercedes-benz, BMW (not sure about this but i dont think they have a car under 20K anymore), Land Rover and all of those other VERY respectable car companies over here that dont have a single car line under 20,000. hell a couple of those dont even touch the 29,000 mark...just a thought.



Um, last time I checked, Ford was not anything like Lexus, Infinity, Mercedes-Benz, or BMW. That's two totally different markets.

It's pretty easy to convince people in the market for a Benz to spend $20,000. It's not nearly as easy to convince people in the market for a $10,000 Focus to spend another $10,000 for "better quality". Especially when they think (and rightfully so) that they should be getting that quality in the first place.

If you walked into work and told your coworkers that you just spent $40,000 on a Ford mid-size sedan, most would laugh you right of the building.

Could Ford put themselves into the market with Lexus and BMW? Sure, if it wanted to take a loss for 10 years until it proved to the consumer that it deserved to be there and that it's cars were worth the same prices. That's not likely to happen anytime soon.

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