5 ms·
Some of what the guy says is generic business speak. But then he says this: "We’re a brand that’s recognized around the world consistently. We don’t have diffe
by jzwinck 11y ago
Some of what the guy says is generic business speak. But then he says this:
"We’re a brand that’s recognized around the world consistently. We don’t have different brands in different parts of the world."
Well, you have Lincoln (and for much of history, Mercury) in the US. They sell your cars under different names, but don't really exist much outside of North America. Then you have Mazda, your activities with which I cannot summarize better than to quote Wikipedia:
"The Mazda B-Series and Ford Ranger models sold in North America were developed by Ford, whereas models sold elsewhere under the same badge were engineered by Mazda."
So no. You aren't a single brand everywhere. It's hard to see how you could claim this with a straight face.
- wittekm 11y agoWhile I agree that the article is all business-speak ("we're just like Apple!" said every auto exec ever), the Mazda/Ford partnership is basically done as of the market crash. Ford at one point owned 33% of it in the 90s, now down to 2.1%.
- kirrent 11y agoThe article is certainly generic business speak I think he's probably referring to the practice of using different brands in different countries. In Australia general motors is known as Holden. Ford is Ford.
- jzwinck 11y agoEven if we restrict the discussion to Australia, Ford is not the only Ford. Witness the Mazda BT-50, which is actually a Ford Ranger in disguise. In Southeast Asia, Mazda light trucks are probably the most popular Ford vehicles on the road. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_BT-50 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_BT-50 Ford and Mazda vehicles are manufactured in Thailand by a single company: https://www.autoalliance.co.th/en/about_product.php https://www.autoalliance.co.th/en/about_product.php
- maxerickson 11y agoMazda selling vehicles produced under a joint venture with Ford is not the same thing as Ford having another brand.
- alasdairnicol 11y agoAs well as Holden in Aus/NZ, it's Vauxhall in the UK, and Opel in the rest of Europe.
- fullshark 11y agoSeems like a weird thing to get annoyed about, I agree its it 100% accurate but why is it so important?
- jzwinck 11y agoI found it strange that the person in charge would bother to make a statement which seems totally counter to reality. What is he playing at? Is he saying they will disband Lincoln soon, as they did Mercury? Or is he putting forth a brand vision which sounds nice but carries no weight? If the former this is big news. If the latter this raises questions about the vision for the "separate but connected" FSM LLC.