Reminiscing--when Ford was Mr 20%

[jphanna]

Looking at Toyota with its 20% of the market, was it that long ago that FORD had the market by the throat, and looked untouchable.

Back then Sedans were still ruling the roost, but it seemed every third house in the street, as a SECOND CAR, had a Ford Laser /Meteor/Telstar in their driveway.

Every TAXI was an XE/XF……….bar NONE

Ford didn’t even have a V8 available and no performance image cars whatsoever. Yet they were comfortably on top and could not put a foot wrong…….

I think the first hint of any bad press was the Capri and its build quality
Then the EA came out. My dad bought an EA. I never seen him more passionate about any car prior to that car, but this car busted his balls. Time and time again. He threw money at it…..still failed him. When the Head gasket failed, just out of warranty…….he took it to a large respectable mechanic in the area. He called my dad in when the head was off. He showed him markings where the head/block has already been worked on, in a previous attempt to fix this problem. This car was BRAND new with ZERO on the clock!!!!

The other comment he made which stuck with me was,
‘I get an EA head gasket job every week. Its my bread and butter’.

I think the EA…..combined with the fact the VN with its 4 speed auto verses the 3 speed EA, that could blow the EA into the weeds, every day of the week, with better economy, was the start of the Ford Downfall. For Petes sake, the MULTIPOINT motor that Ford customers had to pay more $$$ to get, but still could not dust off a stock VN………..

So it’s a new world today, with SUV everything, no sedans to be seen, but Toyota have a dominating 20% of the market. It still doable by one manufacturer, just as Ford did it for a decade.

What would Ford need to do to get to those big % numbers again?