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The fact that Ford didn't need the bailouts that GM and Chrysler got (though I'm aware they still had the line line of credit available) suggests that their lea

The fact that Ford didn't need the bailouts that GM and Chrysler got (though I'm aware they still had the line line of credit available) suggests that their leadership is at least strong within the American car making industry, for whatever that's worth. On the side of whether they're developing/integrating tech effectively: on the one hand, that Microsoft system they farmed out for info/music is abysmal and everyone knows it; on the other hand, the Focus RS they've just released shows some impressive work put into even a lower-end car (particularly I'm thinking of the way they handle power delivery to the rear wheels in tight corners.) At least in what I've seen, Ford is one of the few mass-production car makers doing some pretty interesting stuff.

Caprinicus 11y ago
>Focus RS they've just released shows some impressive work put into even a lower-end car (particularly I'm thinking of the way they handle power delivery to the rear wheels in tight corners.) That sort of system, while important, is not particularly complicated or advanced though. The tech been employed in various forms for over a decade, I don't see the software implementation as evidence of competency within ford.
tobltobs 11y ago
A credit line of up to $9 billion (which no bank would have ever gave them), additional legislation (Ford was the second most profiteure of the cash-for-clunkers program) and 5$ billion from the DOE loan program does sound like a kind of bailout for me.
- yompers888 11y ago
  Yeah, from the perspective of them getting easy access to the taxes I've paid, I definitely agree that they got a bailout. Maybe I should have said that they were 1st place in the field of losers that was the American auto industry. And while that isn't particularly inspiring, it may lend support to the notion that I was trying to propose, which is that they have at least some ability to handle potential crises that were evidently easy to fall into (at least for GM and Chrysler, who comprised the American car industry, aside from Ford.) In hindsight on the whole comment, though, I'm probably just pleased with Ford right now because I'm quite impressed with the Focus RS, but that certainly doesn't prove that their leadership is strong.
ryanmarsh 11y ago
That has nothing to with the ability to transform an organizational culture into one that values validated experiments over plans, resiliency over zero defects, collaboration over turf.

Caprinicus 11y ago

>Focus RS they've just released shows some impressive work put into even a lower-end car (particularly I'm thinking of the way they handle power delivery to the rear wheels in tight corners.) That sort of system, while important, is not particularly complicated or advanced though. The tech been employed in various forms for over a decade, I don't see the software implementation as evidence of competency within ford.

tobltobs 11y ago

A credit line of up to $9 billion (which no bank would have ever gave them), additional legislation (Ford was the second most profiteure of the cash-for-clunkers program) and 5$ billion from the DOE loan program does sound like a kind of bailout for me.

yompers888 11y ago
Yeah, from the perspective of them getting easy access to the taxes I've paid, I definitely agree that they got a bailout. Maybe I should have said that they were 1st place in the field of losers that was the American auto industry. And while that isn't particularly inspiring, it may lend support to the notion that I was trying to propose, which is that they have at least some ability to handle potential crises that were evidently easy to fall into (at least for GM and Chrysler, who comprised the American car industry, aside from Ford.) In hindsight on the whole comment, though, I'm probably just pleased with Ford right now because I'm quite impressed with the Focus RS, but that certainly doesn't prove that their leadership is strong.

ryanmarsh 11y ago

That has nothing to with the ability to transform an organizational culture into one that values validated experiments over plans, resiliency over zero defects, collaboration over turf.