General Motors has already announced that they will be closing plants and laying people off, but Ford’s restructuring could be even more disastrous to workers. According to some Wall Street analysts, we can expect Ford to lay off about 25,000 people, and soon.
Ford had announced plans last summer to restructure their business, to the tune of $11 billion. But that restructuring may not include 24,000 workers currently employed by the vehicle manufacturer. Like GM, Ford is reinventing itself to compete in an industry undergoing radical change, according to a report by CNN. Both GM and Ford have said they need to cut costs to invest in the next generation of vehicles, such as self-driving and electric cars in order to stay profitable. So the loss of jobs is all but inevitable.
“There are bigger forces at work driving global [automakers] to rethink the fundamental idea of supporting increasingly obsolete segments, propulsion systems, and geographic regions,” Adam Jonas, the auto analyst at Morgan Stanley wrote in a research note. Ford did say that the actions the company intends to take will largely take place outside of North America, however, Jonas states that plants in America and workers won’t be spared.
Ford’s sales in the United States are down about 3% this year. Similarly to GM, the company has announced plans to stop selling traditional sedans in North America other than its iconic Mustang, given the shift in customer preference towards SUVs and pickups.
https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/gm-will-cut-14000-jobs-and-idle-plants-as-sales-slump_11272018
Ford said last week that it would need to cut some shifts and 1,150 hourly jobs at two plants, one in Kentucky, one in Michigan. But it also announced it was adding 1,000 jobs at two other nearby plants, and said that all hourly workers whose current jobs were being eliminated would be offered jobs at another Ford plant. The company had 202,000 workers worldwide at the end of last year, with about half of those in North America and 54,000 in Europe.
From what I understand the aluminum frame f150’s have a plastic oil pan and oil plug.
I was trying to imagine driving one thru the Cali wildfires as your BoV.
I think not.
Hot enough to melt an aluminum frame or damage high heat resistant plastic and you should be worrying a lot more about how to get out of it and to somewhere you aren’t burning to death.
Bill, are you serious about the PLASTIC oil pan and plug? I don’t see how that could work with the temperatures engines normally get up to. My company was looking at getting me a new F150. I test drove one shortly before my last trip to the BOL. Had a good ride to it but too much electronics in it; more than the 2014 F150 I’m in now. I’m still going to be in the market for another old truck after the first of the year. I may just get another old F150 similar to the one I had.
Their OLDER trucks are still better products IMHO. I had a 1990 F150 regular cab short bed I bought from the original owner in 1998 with only 80000 miles on it. It was just a BASE MODEL PLAIN JANE WORK TRUCK with very little in electronics. The old INLINE 6-cyl. engine, auto. trans., MANUAL windows and door locks, AM-FM radio. No bells or whistles, period. Just a good reliable work vehicle and even occasionally drove to GA and back. In 2004, with 190000 miles and STILL running strong, I got hit by a moron in a U-HAUL and the truck was totaled. I literally shed some tears over that truck. That truck was the BEST vehicle I ever owned. If I can find another one like it, I’ll snatch it up. When I lost that truck I felt like I lost my best friend.
DR
That’s what I was told by a reliable Mechanic friend
When he did the first oil change on one he called the stealership and ask if he was suppose to replace the oil plug every time he did an oil change.
High impact plastic is some good stuff but it will melt.
I’m going strictly vintage and doing a ground up build without all the EPA bullshit sensors
No Mad Max stuff just a top notch BOV
Bill, you’re going the right route. All I’m doing is buying another old one and rework it a little at a time. I wish I could do a ground up build but I won’t have THAT kind of money. All I want is the old tech myself. I lived without ‘bells and whistles’ from the 70s to the 2000s until they put me in a company truck. That was the result of me breaking down in that Dodge so much. I’ve always paid cash for vehicles from a private owner. I can’t afford any of the credit crap. That’s for people with money to throw away.
Bill:
I’m doing the same thing with an old Chevy Suburban. Like you said, no Mad Max stuff but am going through and improving in some known trouble areas to hopefully produce something decent for a B.O.V.
Good choice Karl
Suburbans are tough.
I always like having a 350 around one of the most produced engines of all times so parts are no problem.
Bit of a gas hog but hey who’s going touring in a BoV.?
Rockauto.com is a good supplier if you can get the shipping right.
Bill, I might just try to get an old Silverado or Sierra from the 90s. There’s still a bunch of those on the road and parts are still easy to get for them. That speaks volumes about the older GM products. They were MUCH BETTER than the newer ones. On the 350, I know of a few of those in some people’s back yards, LOL. Those were one of the BEST engines ever and they’ll run their asses off.
Unless You want to get a job in Japan, buy American.
_
Are Japanese cars built in Mississippi and Tennessee considered American?
Those would be American-built. No? Some of that money goes overseas, not all of it.
What is the difference between that and a Mexican-built Ford?
BTW, the moron’s insurance company DID buy me another truck. But I made a mistake and bought an early 90s DODGE. That truck acted up on me every time I turned around. Oh well, we learn from our mistakes.
Here ya go DR.?
ht tps://youtu.be/ws-_syszg84
https://youtu.be/ws-_syszg84
Anybody have input on adding urea to diesel?
No pun intended…i read somewhere the original source was horse piss before they learned how to make it synthetically
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1042727_adding-urea-to-clean-diesel-cars-can-i-just-pee-in-the-tank
Bill, LMAO! Thanks for that old video. I married shortly before that song came out. A real classic. Johnny Cash was my FAVORITE artist.
BTW, Ford was the only one of The Big Three that DIDN’T take a bailout from Obama. That was one big thing in their favor.
True DR and i wasn’t talking smack on Ford….
I know there are a lot of people on here that like Toyota too…but I don’t think there’s anything their trucks havent been recalled for frame included.
Speaking of recalls just got a text about recalled beef= salmonella again.
Gonna check it out.
Bill McGill->clear
Bill, I saw that earlier about 5 MILLION POUNDS of beef recalled for that salmonella crap. I’ve been a meat eater all my life and won’t give that up.
Just don’t eat raw meat.
The problem GM and Ford has is Democrats. Democrats through insane laws and regulations designed to kill personal vehicle ownership are being effective.
Battery technology isn’t good enough for electric cars to even come close to competing with fossil fuel on a cost per mile basis. It is pure demagoguery by earth worshipers.
Self driving cars is nearly pure fantasy in our present driving environment. There are too many variables that randomly occur, such as other drivers, pedestrians, Open train crossings, snow covering the road, et al. It might work on an dry Interstate with limited access as we have now, but The driver will still need to be very attentive. The drunk drivers should love self driving cars, it may be their best chance to get home safely.
Rellik, agreed. The same stupid laws affect ALL the automakers. Electric cars and self-driving cars are 2 of the biggest flops I’ve ever seen and will NEVER fly.
rellik, I agree! The only thing wrong with planet Earth is – PEOPLE!
https://youtu.be/uHgJKrmbYfg
“And so this is Christmas, and what have [you] done.”
Come on Ford, come on GM, sing it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prlf5y5iRv0
nobody buyin the overpriced new cars……
There’s barely a car not older than 2014 around here.
My uncle owned a dealership. During the down tick in about 2008, dealerships had to lure in their loyal customers with great deals and trade ins. The loyal customers who normally would buy every 3-5 years took the deals happily. It kept the doors open for a time, but the expected repeat business dried up by getting in those who had their buying window on a cycle, back into a new vehicle artificially soon.
A great deal of people are already in a newer vehicle around here and I think the story above is also repeating on top of some other problems.
Jim in VA, I started buying cars for cash from private owners when I was 16 and did so all the way until 2004 when I first got into a company vehicle. I was 47 at that time. I’ve NEVER had the right amount of income to even qualify for any credit. I used to get ridiculed real bad back in the old days for buying those old cash vehicles but that was the only choice I ever had. Even at 61 I would still have to do the same thing. There is a way to make it work. I learned damn quick at age 16 how to make it work and stuck to that strategy ever since. It’s not easy, it’s not a picnic, it’s not even something to jump for joy about, but it is FEASIBLE AND WORKABLE. When you’re poor you learn how to adapt and improvise. You either swim or sink.
My my. In an economic downturn…sales of big ticket items are the first to slow down. GM 14000 now F with 25000. Thats a lot of cars not being produced. GM and F are circling the wagons. They know there won’t be a bailout this round.
IMHO
Rednek101, agreed. I don’t see Trump offering anyone any bailouts.
And Toyota keeps selling everything the build. If people actually check into parts sourcing you will see more foreign parts in those beloved American vehicles. Most Toyotas are built by Americans too. Domestic makers will never compete with the quality and resale of Toyota, ever. I just bought a new trd 44runner, it’ll last 20 years and it’s one of the last true off road vehicles built today. For 25k less than a Tahoe.
Yep, my Toyota Sequoia was bought new in 2003. It has 342,000 miles and runs perfectly. Always has, even though I have taken in off road camping numerous times each and every year since new. I had a 1977 short wheelbase FJ-40 before that. I needed a bigger vehicle for my growing family but I rue the day I sold it. Toyota is as bulletproof as vehicles get. I will never buy anything else.
Paint It Black. Like the New Economist Cover.
Your grandbabies’ future is riding a bicycle because they sure won’t be able to afford a car much less a truck…unless they live in it!