TJR,
It is not about quality. Detroit has not been building cars people want to buy.
Seriously, up until the last year or two, Fod did not make a car I would buy. The Focus? No thank you. Taurus, Sorry. Crown Vic? If I wanted to be a wanna-be cop. Mustang? Hell yes. Is it practical? Nope.
What else did they offer?
1992 was the last new car I got from Ford. Went 10 years 135,000 miles. Suffered abuse and neglect (Burning 90% isopropyl alcohol, oil changes "whenever I got around to it", and my abuse). Those years Ford was ruling the roads. 5 of the top 10 cars were Fords. Escort, F-Series, Explorer, Ranger, Taurus.
The Escort was being phazed out in the late 90's to early 2000's. (2003 was the last ZX2).
The Taurus went from 1995 to 2007 without a serious redesign. That is 12 years. The Focus came out in like 1999 and it still the same car today in 2007, though the 2008 did get a facelift, yet it is still the same car. Ranger...umm, that is a 1982 design. 25 years on the same design. No wonder Ford is having a hard time selling them. F-150 is still a strong seller, though sales are down, it is still the top selling truck. Explorers have been priced out of the range of most families and gas prices add to that problem.
Ford has not produces a car that excites me. Sure, I would love to have a Mustang, but I am talking about a small CHEAP car. You could buy a new Escort 12 years ago for less than $9 grand...loaded.
A Focus loaded pushes $18,000. Yea right. To top it off, it is built in Mexico for pennies on the dollar.
Mistakes have been made for profit margin vs. overall profit.
That was Fords mistake.
I could care less what quality vehicles are out there. I do not have problems with what I drive. That is a fact. I drive the SH!T out of them!!!
Tom