Mark Fields, Ford's new president of operations in the Americas, who has been given the mandate to draft the turnaround strategy,
commented in an address earlier this month that the automaker is looking into all aspects of its operations on both cost and revenue sides, in order to arrive at a decision about its future.
"We are scrutinizing every cost, looking at our competitiveness on a material cost basis, looking at our competitiveness on a fixed cost basis and aligning that with the demand," said Fields.
Fields added that the need to rein in excess capacity would be very important for Ford if it were to have greater success going forward, which brings us back to the Oakville, Ontario plant, where the automaker's minivan production is running at an all-time low. Edge and MKX should fill the gaps, and by the looks of both of them the plant could even see the need to add another shift - again purely speculative - but being that Ford only utilized 79 percent of its total North American production capacity last year, the worst of any automaker according to Harbour Consulting, they will want maximize production within each plant moving forward.
Therefore,
saying goodbye to a year when it stooped to its lowest market share since the roaring '20s, at only 17.4 percent in the U.S., Ford will say hello to doing things differently. Now, at least, it arrives in 2006 with an all-new, extremely advanced 3.5-litre V6 engine, complemented by an in-house-developed six-speed automatic transmission, ideally suited for most applications its less powerful Duratec 30 V6 has been assigned to. While this drivetrain has been announced for use in the Edge and MKX, it should also become available in the Fusion/Milan/Zephyr, Five Hundred/Montego, as well as a next-generation all-wheel drive Lincoln based on the Five Hundred chassis architecture, plus the Freestyle, and the next-generation Freestar (or Fairlane?) minivan, to name a few.
While the next few years look to challenge Ford and all of its top-level management, they have reason to be optimistic about the future.
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| The new Edge will be built in Ford's Oakville, Ontario plant. (Photo: Ford Motor Company of Canada) |
"We are scrutinizing every cost, looking at our competitiveness on a material cost basis, looking at our competitiveness on a fixed cost basis and aligning that with the demand," said Fields.
Fields added that the need to rein in excess capacity would be very important for Ford if it were to have greater success going forward, which brings us back to the Oakville, Ontario plant, where the automaker's minivan production is running at an all-time low. Edge and MKX should fill the gaps, and by the looks of both of them the plant could even see the need to add another shift - again purely speculative - but being that Ford only utilized 79 percent of its total North American production capacity last year, the worst of any automaker according to Harbour Consulting, they will want maximize production within each plant moving forward.
Therefore,
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| Ford's lead in hybrid powertrains gives it an edge over the majority of competitors. (Photo: Ford Motor Company of Canada) |
While the next few years look to challenge Ford and all of its top-level management, they have reason to be optimistic about the future.