From a Geopolitical view why is Ford with a 17B dollar loss and 20B in mortgaged assets still in business?

Question

It seems obvious to me Ford is completely unwilling to build cars that:
1) dont break down
2) are fuel effecient
I am not bashing america BTW I want to know what is actually going on and why a company that has been in business 100 yrs suddenly cant compete.
Please give honest answers and try to solve the problem rather than attitudes.

If you have seen the Tesla electric car it shows it can be built!! I bet if Ford would mass produce electric cars they would take the lead in sales again.

Answer 1

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Well, the reliability issue is just a bad rap. Ford earned this poor reputation a long time ago, but no longer deserves it. If you study quality metrics, you will see that all the manufacturers are now very close to each other in build quality.
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The fuel efficiency, and electric car issues, however, are very interesting to me. In addition to the Tesla electric sports car, take a look at the Phoenix:
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http://phoenixmotorcars.com/models/fleet.html
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This car, based on new battery research, can travel up to 250 miles per charge, cruises at 95mph with 5 passengers and cargo, can be charged in only ten minutes, and the batteries are good for at least 200,000 miles.
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Yet, last I heard, Ford is still not even looking at plug-in hybrids. I don't believe any of the Detroit car companies will get serious about this issue until foreign competition makes them. This attitude does not come from malice, but rather from inertia. Nobody likes to have to learn to do things a different way - especially large corporations.
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In my opinion, the first mass-market electric car will come from China. The Chinese have developed a propulsion Lithium battery which sells for about a tenth what competing batteries cost:
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http://www.everspring.net/product-battery.htm
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There is already an importer working to bring Chinese EVs here, at prices comparable to what gas-powered cars sell for. See below:
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http://milesautomotive.com/showroom_xs200.php
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Answer 2

They have to pay their union employees 80% of their pay when they are laid off during three month plant closings while they change model years. These people are not working 25% of the time and yet they demand to get paid! It is bad enough that these people get paid $30 or more per hour to put one nut on a car all day. This is the kind of work that a retarded monkey with a little training can do.

Furthermore, Ford is too heavily invested in large trucks and SUV manufacturing. With rising gas prices hardly anyone except for those who have to buy a large vehicle are doing so.

Combine that with product reliability issues like you have described and you have a business model that does not function as anything but a tax write off.

American car companies have not been able to compete on the international market for decades.

To help them compete here in the states the government puts more than 5k in tariffs on each imported car.

Answer 3

Good question, I dont believe in the breaking down part. I have driven fords all my life and love them. I think it has a lot to do with not selling out to the forien market. We can produce cars here in the US for about .56 cents per LB. Where as Japan can do it and ship it here for .23 cents per LB. Our labor market is to heavy. I think that is why Ford is going down they cant profit on there cars while still competing with Japan.