Ne parlavo con un amico ingegnere meccanico; la tematica dell'incredibile semplificazione delle auto elettriche rispetto a quelle con motore termico andrà a cambiare un sacco di equilibri... pensate già solo a tutti i produttori di cambi automatici e non!

_________________
Fiat Panda Hobby - 39 cavalli, sì, ma non per tonnellata

Sì, per il comparto automobili sì, i cambiamenti a livello industriale saranno pesanti. Rimangono i veicoli industriali, lì mi sa che l'elettrificazione sarà un pò più lenta.
Pensa poi agli autoriparatori...

Ford names new manufacturing boss for Europe; veteran exec Odell to retire
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Staff and wire reports
Automotive News Europe
October 24, 2017 16:46 CET
Ford Motor named a new manufacturing boss and a new head of joint ventures and alliances in Europe as part of a global top-level management reorganization.

The changes will see four top executives leave Ford as CEO Jim Hackett reshapes his leadership team to make the automaker more competitive.

Company veteran Stephen Odell, the British national who heads global sales and marketing, will retire. Ford also said its heads of quality, human resources and strategy will depart between now and the end of the year

Dale Wishnousky will lead Ford's European manufacturing operations, Ford said on Tuesday. He succeeds Linda Cash, 55, who moves to a global role as head of quality and new model launches, replacing Bennie Fowler, 61, who has elected to retire.

Wishnousky, 54, a German-born Canadian national, moves to his new post from his job as director of Ford's global manufacturing business office.

Birgit Behrendt was named to a newly created position at Ford of Europe leading joint ventures, alliances and commercial affairs. Behrendt, 58, will be responsible for all joint ventures and alliances in Europe, including the development of new arrangements to support the company's business growth.

Behrendt, a German national, moves to the role from head of global powertrain purchasing and global purchasing operations. Lisa Drake, 45, succeeds Behrendt in that role.

Odell, 62, is retiring after 37 years of service with Ford. During his career, he was instrumental in leading the development and implementation of Ford’s European transformation plan to achieve profitable growth. He also served six years with Mazda and as CEO of Volvo. He moved to the U.S.-based global sales and marketing role three years ago.

Kumar Galhotra, 51, will add global marketing to his current role leading Ford's Lincoln upscale brand. Ford said Galhotra, in taking over Odell's marketing responsibilities, will be charged with "shifting investments towards product categories that play to Ford's strengths, and developing more effective brand communications including digital services, emobility and autonomy."

Ford said John Casesa, the architect of its efforts to map out new strategies for attacking global markets and rising costs, had decided to leave the company and his role as vice-president for global strategy. Going forward, the global strategy function will report to Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks.

Hackett ha modificato in profondità il management di Ford e guarda caso è stata nominata una dirigente tedesca come responsabile “alleanze e joint ventures di Ford Europa”. Chissà se chiameranno a Torino.

Trovano ormai nessuno a Torino...

utomotive News Europe
March 4, 2018 06:01 CET
Ford's European operations are huge when measured by its number of employees: 54,000 people work in sales, development and at its 16 plants in the region. The same is not true for its profits. Ford made a pre-tax profit of $234 million last year in Europe compared with a $7.5 billion (6 billion euro) profit for its U.S business. Put another way, Ford U.S. makes $75,000 for each of its 100,000 workers, compared with $4,300 per worker in Europe.

Figuring out how to make Ford of Europe sustainably profitable has become a priority within the company again after last year’s disappointing performance. Hopes were raised in 2016 when the company recorded a $1.2 billion pre-tax profit, a stunning turnaround after losing $3.1 billion in the region between 2011-2014. Ford of Europe said two years ago that it wanted to achieve an operating margin of 6 percent to 8 percent within five years. But Europe’s uniquely tricky marketplace has proved nothing can be certain.

Rival General Motors left the market last year and there are enough similarities between the two to wonder whether Ford might follow. Like GM, the bulk of Ford’s profits are made in the U.S. Like GM, Europe looks more like a distraction than an asset, especially as customer tastes between the two regions widen. "Ford does not seem to have an economically viable business [in Europe] at present," Max Warburton, analyst with Bernstein Research, wrote in a paper published in January. "Could 2018 see it also slim or exit Europe, given its years of losses in the region?"




Four factors

Ford's disappointing result in Europe last year was not because of vehicle sales volume. Across the 50 markets it counts in its European operations, including Russia and Turkey, it sold 1.56 million cars and light commercial vehicles, up 1.4 percent on the year before, the company said.

The poor performance was because of four main problems, Ford said. The big one was the decline of the pound following the decision by Britain, Ford's biggest European market, to leave the European Union. The company said the weaker pound wiped $600 million from its profits. In its annual report, Ford also blamed its European slowdown on the rising cost of steel, which also affected its U.S. earnings. The company also pointed to the expense of last year'’s launch of the new Fiesta subcompact, Ford's best-seller in Europe. Warranty costs were cited as the fourth drag on profits.

The new year carries over many of the same issues. Ford warned of "continued headwinds" from currency exchange rates and said that it was preparing for prices to rise again for "most key metals" in 2018. It also has another expensive launch to pay for – the new Focus compact, its No. 2-selling car in Europe, debuts this year. Ford's revised margin target of 6 percent for Europe looks a long way off. Last year its margin was 0.8 percent.



Brexit backlash

Ford's exposure to the UK, the highest of any manufacturer in Europe, continues to hurt. "The fact the UK is Ford's largest market [in Europe] presents something of a headwind to the group's outlook," analyst Sammy Chan of LMC Automotive said.

The UK's decision to exit the EU has not only depressed the value of the pound, making Ford's cars more expensive to buy, but also contributed to last year's 6 percent drop in the country's car sales. This year UK sales are expected to fall another 5 percent.

Brexit could increase costs further in the form of tariffs if the UK splits from the EU's customs union and single market, something the UK government has promised to do following a "transition period" until the end of 2020. The increased costs and complexity resulting from a hard border could also damage profitability at Ford's two UK engine plants, which need to export to Ford's factories in the EU. Ford no longer makes cars in the UK.

Along with its rivals, Ford needs to prepare for the EU’s 2021 CO2 target, which required fleet emissions from automakers decrease to 95 grams per kilometer from 118.1g/km in 2016.

"We think Ford will probably be OK – but they will need to sell about 5 percent sub-50g/km CO2 vehicles – that will be stretching it given their lack of progress with plug-in hybrids and EVs so far," said Greg Archer, who is director of clean vehicles at European lobby group Transport & Environment.


Ford says the Mondeo has a future despite falling demand in its segment.

'We plan to stay'

Despite the headwinds, Ford insists it will remain in Europe for the long term. "We are committed and we plan to stay," Ford of Europe President Steve Armstrong told Automotive News Europe. He predicted Ford's European profits will increase in 2018, despite the headwinds. To increase its margin, Ford of Europe will continue cutting costs, which is something it has done for years. After reporting a $27 million operating loss in 2011, the company closed three factories in Europe. Today, Ford of Europe's assembly plants (excluding Russia) are running above capacity, according to analyst firm IHS Markit, which defines capacity as two shifts a day, five days a week.

In 2016, Ford said it planned to eliminate about 1,000 white collar jobs as part of a further $200 million savings drive. Overall expenses have pared back to the point where Armstrong now regularly uses budget airlines when traveling within Europe.

Along with the cuts, Ford plans to increase margins by overhauling its European model lineup. It will achieve this in three ways: sell more SUVs, increase the money it makes on its passenger cars and sell more LCVs, Ford's global head of operations, Jim Farley, told the Deutsche Bank Global Automotive Conference in January.


Ford is relying on demand for SUVs including the Kuga, shown, to boost sales in Europe.

SUV push

Farley, who ran Ford's European business until getting his global job last summer, said the automaker wants SUVs to account for 31 percent of sales in Europe "in a few years," up from 22 percent now. "Ford's position in the European SUV segment is still weak," Felipe Munoz, global analyst for market researchers JATO Dynamics, said. The 22 percent figure is below the market average of 28 percent for volume brands in Europe, mainly because of the relatively poor showing of Ford's EcoSport in the crucial subcompact SUV segment.

Farley said Ford will attack the SUV market by launching small urban crossovers and seven-seat SUVs, but he didn't go into detail. LMC predicts Ford will launch a Fiesta-based small SUV to replace the EcoSport before 2022 and reveal a seven-seat version of its Kuga compact SUV to better compete against larger SUVs such as Nissan's successful X-Trail. Those models would push Ford's SUV share to 29 percent by 2022, the LMC predicts.

Over the same timeframe, LMC sees Ford's sales of conventional cars dropping to 36 percent from 41 percent (the remaining volume would come from Ford's LCVs).

Farley promised the new Focus, which is due to be revealed in April, will "move upmarket with a slightly lower volume." Like it has done with the Fiesta, Ford will create higher-value versions of the Focus, including an SUV-styled Active model and an upscale Vignale variant.

Premium alternative

Ford is expanding the Vignale trim line as an alternative to premium brands and says demand is building across its models, rising to about 15 percent to 20 percent of its midsize Mondeo range.

Farley said in January that Ford would "rationalize" the automaker's lineup in Europe, which would indicate a reduction of models. When asked about the future of the Mondeo and related Galaxy and S-Max minivans, Armstrong said the current models are safe but declined to say whether they would have successors once they come to the end of their life cycles.

"We're not at the point that we need to make that decision," he said. The three models compete in declining market sectors. While Ford has mostly persisted with minivans as rivals dropped them, the automaker did stop output of the subcompact B-Max minivan last year.

Ford can be flat-footed when it comes to reading product trends, Ian Fletcher, principal analyst at IHS Automotive said. "Some of the product decisions/strategy in recent years have been slow out of the gates or have not captured the mood of the market," he said. Armstrong promises Ford will speed up product development thanks to greater use of simulation technology.

While Ford says it is committed to Europe, Bernstein's Warburton says remaining may not make sense for Ford in the future. "We think it's unlikely that Ford will exit Europe in the near term," he said. "But as the evidence builds that globalization is not driving profitability the pressure may build."


Da quando GM ha venduto Opel a PSA nel mondo automotive circolano voci insistenti di un disimpegno di Ford dal vecchio continente. Il management ha sempre negato queste indiscrezioni eppure questa interessante analisi fatta da automotive news mostra che gli americani saranno costretti a scelte drastiche. Ford Europe rispetto a Gm Europe ha portato a casa risultati sempre migliori ma rimane una divisione con una redditività molto bassa. La brexit è una mazzata durissima ( 600 milioni di profitti evaporati nel 2017) e potrebbero esserci conseguenze ben peggiori nel caso di una hard brexit. Ford ha già chiuso da decenni i propri impianti britannici ma produce in loco ancora motori. I tagli continui non hanno portato a grossi risultati nel 2017 e soprattutto hanno reso la gamma abbastanza esangue. Hackett sarebbe favorevole a creare una Jvs ponendo il 50% delle proprie attività europee con un altro costruttore. Nel frattempo Mondeo e S-Max rimarranno senza eredi.

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday said it plans to stop selling all Ford brand sedans in North America and that it is nearly doubling its cost-cutting target by 2022 from the plan it laid out only six months ago. The automaker said it will fix or eliminate unprofitable global operations.

Ford said the only cars it will keep in North America beyond their current generations are the Mustang and the Focus Active arriving in 2019.

The automaker said it now expects to achieve an 8 percent global profit margin by 2020, two years sooner than planned. It upped its five-year cost-cutting goal to $25.5 billion, from the $14 billion projected by CEO Jim Hackett in October.

“We’re going to feed the healthy parts of our business,” Hackett told analysts on a conference call Wednesday, “and deal decisively with the parts that destroy value.”

Ford announced the improved guidance as the company reported a 9 percent increase in first-quarter net income. Its global profit margin was 5.2 percent in the quarter, as higher commodity costs reduced earnings in North America. The company posted a 6.4 percent margin during the same quarter last year.

Ford shares rose 2.6 percent to $11.40 in after-hours trading on Wednesday.

Cars being cut in North America are the Fiesta, Fusion and Taurus. They will be discontinued over the next few years as their life cycles end. Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s head of global operations, said other vehicles will replace the cars at factories in Mexico and Chicago where they are now built.


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Ford's global profit margin was 5.2 percent in the first quarter, as higher commodity costs reduced North America earnings, down from 6.4 percent during the same quarter last year. Photo credit: BLOOMBERG
Ford’s head of global markets, Jim Farley, said the company is exploring new vehicles that give people the space and versatility of a utility vehicle without a fuel economy “penalty.”

“We will have a very diverse passenger car business,” Farley said. “It just won’t be traditional silhouetted sedans that tend to be commoditized.”

Small cars lose money

Ford CFO Bob Shanks said small cars and "most Lincoln products" are among those losing money.

Ford officials had signaled that some cars would be removed from the portfolio as consumers gravitate toward far more profitable pickups, SUVs and crossovers. Shanks said Lincoln is not in overall danger but noted that it lost money in China because it is in ramp-up mode there after being introduced in 2014.

Although Ford didn’t mention them, analysts say the Lincoln Continental and MKZ sedans, which share platforms with many of the Ford cars slated to be scrapped, also remain in doubt.

Shanks suggested that Ford could reduce investment in certain geographic regions or exit them if it did not see adequate returns on the horizon. That echoes the strategy General Motors has used in selling its European business and abandoning several other countries, including Russia.

“Everything will be on the table,” Shanks said. “We can make different investments; we can partner; we can exit products, markets. And we will do that."


Less capital spending

He also said the company was reducing its planned capital spending from 2019 through 2022 by $5 billion to $29 billion through such actions as using common “modules” to account for 70 percent of the value of each vehicle and reusing tools and equipment.

Shanks wouldn’t say whether Ford would need to eliminate jobs to achieve the additional $11.5 billion in cost cuts. Nearly half of the cuts would be in sales and marketing -- through incentive optimization, reduced advertising and other actions -- with the rest coming from engineering and product development, material costs, manufacturing and information technology, in that order.

About $4 billion of the $11.5 billion in cuts would be accomplished in 2019 and 2020, Shanks said, with the rest occurring in the subsequent two years. He said the company used “hard work” to find more efficiencies after Hackett unveiled the plan in October. The plan was met with a tepid reaction from analysts and investors, who have been eager to hear more specifics.

“We have looked at every single part of the business,” Shanks said. “I don’t think they’re done yet.”

In the first quarter, net income rose $144 million to $1.74 billion, and revenue grew 7.4 percent to $42 billion. About $100 million of its income was due to a lower tax rate.

Ford’s North American pretax profit fell 9.2 percent to $1.94 billion, with commodity costs accounting for more than the entire decline. It lost $149 million in South America, 37 percent less than in the first quarter of 2017, and earned $119 million in Europe, down 43 percent. Its Asia Pacific business swung to a $119 million loss, from a $148 million profit a year ago.

Ford Credit’s profit jumped 33 percent to $641 million, while the automaker’s fledgling mobility ventures lost $102 million, 59 percent more than a year ago.

Nel settore automotive era attesa la decisione di Ford di ridurre la propria gamma di berline a livello globale e Hackett ha preso una motosega per i tagli. Negli Usa verranno cancellate la Fiesta (meno di 80.000 unità l’anno), la Focus ( 180.000 unità), la Fusion (300.000) e la Taunus ( meno di 50.000). È una scelta strategica molto dura, Ford sta cercando (in modo abbastanza disperato) di aumentare la redditività, sicuramente la nostra Mondeo non avrà un’erede. È stata ribadita la volontà di cercare alleanze per quelle regioni dove la redditività è insufficiente, più che l’Europa dovrebbe essere l’America Latina ad essere al centro dei cambiamenti. Si parla di PSA come possibile alleato.

Appena gli crolla un attimo il mercato dei trucks, sono dolori.
Certo è che se al posto di fare berline di merda come la Mondeo, si impegnassero un filo di più.. ok che da noi è arrivata con anni di ritardo, ma rispetto alla concorrenza è un ammasso di plastica ..

_________________
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Strategie che si era pesantemente, io compreso, criticata per FCA riproposta alla lettere per Ford, poi Chrysler/Dodge non è che hanno mai fatto grandi numeri in Usa, mentre fusion/mondeo come numeri ne fa ancora altissimi in usa, da noi la mancanza non si sentirà sicuramente i japan/Corea festeggeranno:-), poi niente nuova focus nuova che è già pronta.
A proposito ma su focus nuova non avevano avuto un diverbio con trump per la produzione in Messico o Cina invece che usa?

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ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA jtdm-2 20 170cv- distinctive-pack premium-pack sport 18 - Luglio 2010 -superati i 330.000 KM!!!

Ford alla fine del 2016 aveva annunciato di spostare la produzione della Focus dal Michigan al Messico. La mossa era più che giusta perché le vendite della compatta stavano scendendo mentre la fabbrica statunitense avrebbe ottenuto la Bronco ( suv compatto anti Wrangler).
Trump sparò le sue solite ..... e Ford decise di bloccare l'investimento in Messico per importare dalla Cina. Adesso arriveranno solo le versioni Active della nuova Focus quindi i volumi saranno molto ridotti. FCA ha abbandonato le berline molto prima di Gm e Ford ma storicamente era più debole delle concorrenti nel settore. La stessa Toyota sta spostando grandi risorse verso i sub ma mantiene una sua presenza nelle berline.

Ford ha annunciato poche settimane fa il raddoppio dei tagli previsti per il 2022. Bloomberg ha fatto notare che già adesso la casa di Dearborn è una di quelle che spende meno in ricerca e sviluppo. Grossi cambiamenti sono previsti per l'America Latina e l'Europa dove la redditività è bassissima, eufemisticamente parlando. Alcuni parlano di un'alleanza con PSA.

Ford Europe Under Scrutiny Again As Profit Prospects Melt.

“In our opinion, Ford Europe currently represents the single-biggest risk to Ford’s long-term financial health and success.
As Ford Motor prepares revolutionary but unspecified changes to enable the company to survive and thrive in an era of autonomous and electric cars, investors are wondering if unprofitable parts of the company like Ford Europe can survive the transition.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley earlier this year speculated that Ford might follow the lead of General Motors, which dumped its chronic loss making European subsidiaries Opel and Vauxhall last year. At the time, this view wasn’t shared by many experts in Europe, who saw Ford as solid, with short-term profit issues, but a healthy future.

Morgan Stanley has renewed its doubts about Ford’s European operation, valuing it at a negative $5 billion in a recent report, and offering suggestions about how it might stop being a drag on the parent company’s bottom line.

Again this view isn’t widely held. The editor of European newsletter Automotive Industry Data (AID) Peter Schmidt reckons Ford is poised to prosper in Europe, its new family sedan the Focus is expected to be a hot seller, while a less fashionable part of its line-up – vans and commercial vehicles – is hugely profitable and likely to remain so.

Morgan Stanley doesn’t see it that way.

“In our opinion, Ford Europe currently represents the single-biggest risk to Ford’s long-term financial health and success. In our view, a separation – while potentially expensive – may be the best option for both Ford Motor Company and Ford Europe stakeholders,” said Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas.

Jonas doesn’t spell out what he means by “separation”, but said if Ford decided simply to shut down its European operation and leave, the costs would be huge, calculating compensation would reach $100,000 per employee. With 53,000 direct employees at the last count, that adds up to $5.3 billion.

Big losses
Jonas said Ford Europe has posted a pre-tax loss 12 times since 1999, and calculates that it lost an accumulated $3 billion since then.

That is almost impressive compared with GM Europe though, which lost $20 billion since 2000.

“For 2018, we forecast Ford Europe to post another loss and we expect the trend to continue in each of 2019, 2020, and 2021. By our estimates, Ford Europe is clearly the least profitable (manufacturer) in Europe,” Jonas said.

Last year Ford Europe profit fell 81% to $234 million, hit by rising costs and Brexit related exchange rate problems with Britain’s currency. In an interview last March, Ford Europe CEO Steve Armstrong said he expected 2018 to be more profitable than 2017, and the margin target remains 6%. In the first quarter of 2018, the margin slid to 1.3%.

Morgan Stanley’s Jonas said he doesn’t see any growth in Ford Europe’s sales over the next 10 years.

“We forecast Ford adjusted EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) to remain negative through 2025 and assume an exit adjusted EBIT margin of a positive 0.5%,” Jonas said.

The trouble is, Morgan Stanley doesn’t see many options that make sense. The option of complete retreat is too expensive, and fundamentals don’t show a course for improving to a level that can create value for shareholders, according to Jonas.

“In our view, a full exit of Europe is not a feasible solution due to extraordinary high costs related to labor separation, suppliers, and residual value commitments,” Jonas said.

Academics and experts
Many European academics and experts find this baffling, saying Ford has done a much better job in Europe than GM did, and has been quick to react to weaknesses. Some worry that what looks like a solid business in Europe, is measured by different parameters in Detroit. And if there was a plan to sell off Ford Europe, it’s hard to see who would want it.

AID’s Schmidt looks at Ford Europe’s basics and finds positives rather than negatives.

“Despite the fact that the (little) Fiesta and (VW Golf sized) Focus are made in high cost Germany, Ford is still making money from them. And then there’s hugely profitable commercial vehicles like the Transit. Ford doesn’t spell out the profitability of these vehicles, but Mercedes vans, like the Sprinter, often make more money than its luxury cars and I conclude Ford’s business is just as profitable,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said Ford Europe’s market share has been on the slide. In the first four months of 2018, Western European share fell to 6.8 per cent or 352,400 vehicles from 7.2 per cent in the same period of 2017. Ford Europe has made big progress moving away from sedans to SUVs. Unlike Opel Vauxhall, Ford has not sought to protect market share by piling them high and selling them cheap, chasing sales even if they lose money.

“Ford Europe doesn’t look like a company about to pull the plug any day soon. It’s true that the falling market share in Europe mirror’s Opel Vauxhall’s fall in a weird way, but Ford now has product advantages, it has tackled high costs, and it has what GM Europe didn’t have, a massive proportion of its sales from light commercial vehicle production,” Schmidt said.

Given that if you have a negative view of Ford Europe there are no sensible options other than staying and making it work, it seems likely that not much will happen. After France’s PSA bought Opel Vauxhall, there’s a shortage of candidates, although always in this context we hear talk of what some mythical Chinese company might do.

Bill Ford Jr
But nevertheless, the words of Ford Motor Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr last month must make Ford European operatives a little nervous after being asked about the future of the company.

“It could be regions, it could be functions, it could be areas of emphasis. We’ve done some big things, and we still have some big things to do,” said Ford in an interview with Automotive News.


Gli avvoltoi stanno volteggiando su Ford Europe e non è uno spettacolo gradevole. Opel è diventata l’antonomasia di come possa andare male un costruttore americano in Europa ma anche Ford non scherza. I margini sono rasoterra e miglioramenti non sono attesi, anzi. La brexit (più debolezza del mercato britannico) stanno falcidiando da 2 anni i conti. Pur di ritornare al profitto sono stati ritardati diversi nuovi modelli, ancora non si conosce la data di uscita delle Fiesta suv e Focus crossover. Il transit è stato storicamente un bastione di redditività ma è sotto attacco da parte di PSA e Vw. In Russia Ford fu una delle prime case ad investire ma grandi risultati non li ha avuti. Alcuni parlano di abbandonare l’Europa, nonostante i costi di ristrutturazione.

C’è da dire che:
- la Ka e la Ecosport sono due modelli semplicemente pensati per altri mercati (anche se più di uno ha acquistato la seconda, non capisco come si possa..);
- Fiesta è presto per dire qualcosa;
- Focus appena arrivata, la vecchia era cotta (e la nuova entrano in un segmento ormai in declino);
- Mondeo è un disastro, sarà anche valida ma ha interni vecchissimi e mal rifiniti. Venduta con 10k di sconto;
- Edge inutilmente cara, e per gli interni stesso discorso;
- Kuga vende perchè è un suv ma mi sembra un prodotto mediocre rispetto a roba come Tiguan e 308.
- Bella idea prendere le auto normali, ricoprire di pelle, aggiungere + 10.000eur a listino e chiamarle vignale (come se la gente fosse scema).

Con ste premesse, non mi meraviglio siano in perdita.

_________________
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Lexus Ux250h 4wd Luxury - 2020
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Ford is redirecting spending in Europe away from cars to focus on more profitable SUVs and commercial vans to help return its operations in the region to profit.

Hit by Brexit and a big consumer switch to SUVS and crossovers, Ford’s European operations swung to a $73 million pretax loss in the second half from an $88 million profit last year.

Announcing the results on Wednesday, CEO Jim Hackett said: “We're extremely dissatisfied with our performance in Europe.”

Ford now expects a full-year loss in Europe after earning $234 million in the region last year.

Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said the bulk of Ford’s European vehicle range was unprofitable. “The low-performing part of our portfolio represents a majority of our volume, revenue and capital deployed in the region,” he said. This consisted “principally of cars and multi-activity vehicles [minivans] such as C-Max,” he said.

Ford’s Transit van, Kuga SUV and Ranger pickup and “selected imports” are selling profitably in Europe, Shanks said, without naming the imported vehicles. They are likely to include the Edge midsize SUV and the Mustang sports car.

Shanks said the vehicles represented more than 200 percent of Ford’s profits in Europe, despite accounting for less than half of its volume and revenue.

Europe needs reboot

Jim Farley, Ford’s head of global markets, said commercial vans are earning 13 percent profit margins for the automaker in Europe.

Ford is shifting its focus to concentrate on vans and SUVs to hit its long-term target of a 6 percent margin in the region, Farley said.

“Clearly we have to redesign Europe, centering the operations on our profitable LCV business,” he said. SUVs were also part of that plan. Capital allocation plans now align with the SUV and the LCV business opportunities, Farley said.

Ford is making the right move, said Ian Fletcher, principal analyst at IHS Markit. “Ford cannot afford to just tinker. They have undertaken restructuring in the past and they’re still moaning about the lack of profitability in the region. They have to take a big step or they will be in the same situation down the line.”

Ford has attempted to boost margins on its Focus compact and Fiesta subcompact cars by offering different variants designed to increase its selling price, including an Active crossover-inspired version and an upscale Vignale-badged model.

The tactic isn’t paying off. “New products are delivering incremental profit but lower than planned,” Ford indicated in its second-quarter regulatory filing.

Margins were being “compressed” by a “weaker channel mix, lower net pricing and exchange headwinds,” the company said.

Brexit hit

Ford has been hit by exchange headwinds mainly from the UK, its largest market in Europe, after the British pound lost value following the country’s decision to leave the EU.

The pound’s fall explains the “majority of our deterioration” in profit in Europe, Farley said. “In 2016 we made $1.2 billion in Europe and most of it was in the UK. Brexit and the continued weak sterling has been a fundamental headwind for our European business,” Farley said.

He acknowledged that Ford has been slow to expand in the SUV segment in Europe.

“One of our underlying issues is that we are behind on the shift to utilities and now our portfolio under-indexes on this highly profitable and growing segment,” he said on Wednesday’s earnings call.

Ford currently sells three SUVs in Europe: the small EcoSport, compact Kuga and midsize Edge. Kuga and EcoSport sales in Europe reached a record in the second quarter, Ford said.

Ford described its Kuga as “aging” in its filing and said new launches will increase its product mix by 2020, indicating new models are coming soon.

A Fiesta-based replacement for the EcoSport is due in 2020, analyst firm LMC Automotive predicts.

Products under threat

Ford singled out the C-Max compact minivan on its investor call as under-performing in Europe, indicating it could stop production of the car in the region.

Sales of the C-Max slid 18 percent in the first half to 31,888, figures from JATO Dynamics show. Also under threat is the Mondeo midsize car, which is a version of the U.S. Ford Fusion. Ford has said it would phase out U.S. sedan sales, including the Fusion, by 2020. The related S-Max and Galaxy large minivans could also be dropped.

Alongside redirecting r&d spending away from cars and toward vans and SUVs, Ford said it also planned to continue to “aggressively” cut costs and get new products to market quicker in Europe.

The company said in June it would close its Blanquefort gearbox plant in Bordeaux, southwest France, if no buyer was found.

Partnering up

On Wednesday’s call CEO Shanks said Ford also will rely more heavily on partnerships to turn Europe around. “It's important to recognize that partnerships, which are a part of our fitness toolkit, are already an integral part of our European operations and going forward we expect them to play an even greater role,” he said.

Ford has a long-term partnership with PSA Group on engines. In June it signed an agreement with Volkswagen Group for a potential an alliance on commercial vehicles, as well as other, non-specified projects.

Le big3 hanno tutte annunciato nei giorni scorsi risultati economici sotto le aspettative per il secondo trimestre 2018.
In casa Ford tutte le aree geografiche hanno registrato risultati in calo, Europa e Sud America sono in passivo. Il cfo dell’azienda ha chiaramente parlato di una riduzione della gamma europea. Saranno tagliate le C-Max, S-Max, Galaxy e la Mondeo. Una parte degli investimenti (scarsissimi) saranno indirizzati verso i suv. Le famigerate Fiesta e Focus crossover sono attese da anni. Imho Ford Europe rischia una brutta fine.

Eppure Ford ha sempre avuto una quota interessante in EU. Sembra quasi che la vogliano uccidere a prescindere dai risultati.

La quota è calata con gli anni e Ford nonostante le ristrutturazioni (1996, 1999,2003, 2006,2011,2014 e 2017) i guadagni sono miserrimi. Ford si illude di poter raggiungere i margini che ha (anzi aveva) in Nord America. Già molti prodotti sono in grave ritardo, un' ulteriore sforbiciata ridurrebbe ancora di più la presenza di Ford in Europa. Intanto PSA e Renault guadagnano molto in Europa. Vw solo con Skoda.

Ah, ok. Mi ero perso per strada le varie ristrutturazioni e non avevo idea della bassa marginalità. Al solito, se non investi, ti estingui (come stava per fare Fiat una quindicina di anni fa).

Quindi sostanzialmente ci troveremo una Ford completamente scevra della parte alto di gamma, dal segmento D in su.
Si vede che trovano convincente l'attuale posizionamento e dimensione di Fiat, a tal punto da copiarlo

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Toyota RAV4 2.5 Hybrid Lounge - 2019
Lexus Ux250h 4wd Luxury - 2020
Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 - 2022
Saab 9.3 Cabrio 2.0T SE- 1998

Beh Kuga è una c/d direi posizionamento un po' più alto di 500x...per il resto tutto abbastanza triste, Skoda ha ridotto ai minimi termini Opel/Ford nelle medie, e anche se in eu vendono ancora meno i coreani investono e Ford/FCA no.
Intanto grande canto del cigno del Mondeone... è tornata a "vendicchiare" in Italia grazie alle 5porte "ibrida" anche Vignale...si vede che aziende "ecologiche" la stanno dando ai loro dipendenti

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ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA jtdm-2 20 170cv- distinctive-pack premium-pack sport 18 - Luglio 2010 -superati i 330.000 KM!!!

Ford Motor Co. is pondering an exit from the South American market and has started shopping its money-losing business there to rivals Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Volkswagen AG, according to people familiar with the matter.

The automaker made overtures to several competitors while considering its options for the unit, said the people, who asked not to be named because the conversations were private. Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford hasn’t shown a pretax profit in South America since 2012 and has lost $4.2 billion in the market since then.

Ford called Bloomberg’s report inaccurate. “Ford is not considering an exit from South America,” spokesman Brad Carroll said in an emailed statement. A Fiat Chrysler spokesman initially declined to comment, then said after Bloomberg’s story was published that the company hasn’t had any conversations with Ford about Latin America. A spokesman for VW declined to comment.

Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett is willing to consider a range of options to get out of the business or at least end a prolonged period of losses, the people familiar with the matter said. Shopping the South American operation, which had $5.8 billion in sales last year, coincides with a global restructuring that the company said would take up to five years and cost as much as $11 billion. Ford is spending billions to develop electric and self-driving cars and Hackett has determined it can no longer afford to pour money into South America with scant hope of a decent return, one of the people said.

While Ford made the approaches, it may be hard to get a deal done because other carmakers are wary of increasing their exposure in a market with unstable currency and political risk, one of the people said.

The drain from South America was a topic on last week’s conference call as Ford posted disappointing earnings and lowered its profit forecast for the year.

“Our business in South America lacks a strong competitive position or profit pillars,” Bob Shanks, the automaker’s chief financial officer, told analysts last week . “We have not earned an appropriate return on investment over the most recent economic cycle that spans from 2004 to the present. For those reasons, we are moving on a significant redesign of our business model focused on where to play and how to win.”

South America

Ford has sold cars in South America for more than a century. It operates primarily in Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela and its Ranger pickup is one of its top sellers there. The automaker has eight manufacturing plants and employs 13,657 workers in South America, according to its 2017-18 sustainability report.

VW CEO Herbert Diess told reporters earlier Wednesday that the manufacturer is generally open to expanding cooperation with Ford beyond a planned alliance in light commercial vehicles and noted that previous endeavors with its U.S. counterpart worked out well. But VW doesn’t need additional scale in passenger cars, and a turnaround of its own sizable operations in South America is progressing well, he said.


If Ford finds a buyer for the business, the company would be following in the footsteps of General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra. Under Barra, GM has either pulled back from or exited troubled markets such as Russia, Thailand, Indonesia, India and Europe to focus on technology development. GM agreed to sell its European Opel unit to PSA Group in March 2017 to end two decades of losses. The move was hailed by GM shareholders as smart allocation of resources.

In slides showing profit and loss by region in last week’s earnings, South America was shown as one of Ford’s lowest-performing geographic areas, with losses of $178 million in the second quarter. The slide said most of the South American operation was “low performing” and in need of a “significant redesign” to generate sustainable profits.

Last fall, JPMorgan Chase & Co. auto analyst Ryan Brinkman said in a note to investors that Ford would consider options to turn the business around or even get out, including possibly working with rivals on some kind of tie-up

Secondo Bloomberg Ford starebbe cercando di vendere a FCA o a Vw la propria divisone sudamericana, segno di disperazione, imho.

Mah, solo io vedo male un accordo globale Ford FCA... stile Nissan Renault?
Più o meno stessi mercati ma se sommati in usa diventano n.1 alla grande, e buoni competitor in Brazil e in eu, Ford è abbastanza forte in Cina FCA no, FCA ha però marchi con più valore aggiunto reale jeep e potenziale alfamaserati.
Sarebbe un bel gruppone.

_________________
ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA jtdm-2 20 170cv- distinctive-pack premium-pack sport 18 - Luglio 2010 -superati i 330.000 KM!!!

Sbaglio o c'è un clima di tempesta in arrivo per il mondo dell'auto? Già la vendita di Gm era una situazione difficilmente immaginabile prima, ora anche Ford...

_________________
Sai che cosa diceva quel tale? In Italia sotto i Borgia, per trent'anni, hanno avuto assassinii, guerre, terrore e massacri, ma hanno prodotto Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci e il Rinascimento. In Svizzera hanno avuto amore fraterno, cinquecento anni di pace e democrazia, e che cos' hanno prodotto? Gli orologi a cucù.( O.Welles)

Un periodo di enormi cambiamenti è alle porte, tutti ne sono convinti. Trazione elettrica, guida autonoma, sharing potrebbero modificare radicalmente il business tradizionale dei costruttori.
Ford si è avviata in una spirale negativa dal 2014 e non sembra uscirne fuori. Chiaramente soffre la pressione dei fondi che vorrebbero tagli radicali e uscite da diversi mercati.
Gm è per alcuni (io la penso diversamente) il modello da seguire.
Non sarà facile sbolognare le divisioni europea e sudamericana.

Ford is drawing up drastic plans to slash costs by scrapping its Mondeo range of mid-market family cars and cutting up to 24,000 workers.

Thousands of staff who work for the car maker are at risk of redundancy while the famous ‘Mondeo Man’ which embodied an aspiring political class of voters under former Labour leader Tony Blair could be on his way out.


The Detroit car maker could slash up to 12pc of its global workforce in “deep and fundamental” plans being formulated in its headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. Many of the cuts are feared to come from the company’s European operations, particularly in Germany and Spain.

A spokesman for Ford said it is “focused on aggressively attacking costs” but would not comment on the potential job cuts. The deliberations were first reported by The Sunday Times. Final decisions are not expected for several months.

A fresh wave of cuts in the UK, where the company employs around 12,000 staff, would be likely to anger MPs and unions who last year condemned the business for “blindsiding” staff at an under-threat engine plant in Bridgend, Wales after Ford said it was reducing planned investment in the plant.

As well as trimming its workforce and cutting production of the Mondeo, Ford was said to be considering scrapping the Galaxy and S-Max people carriers in favour of more lucrative offroad-style “sports utility” vehicles and may chop a number of dealerships.

Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Hackett 
Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Hackett
Another radical option would be to move some or all of its European business into a joint venture with a rival such as Volkswagen.

A spokesman said that while the Mondeo market is slowing it “remains a core part of our product line-up in Europe” and there are no current changes planned to Ford’s products. Changes to consumer tastes mean that in recent years drivers have been swapping classic Mondeo cars with larger vehicles such as SUVs.

The potential changes have emerged months after the company said it will be cutting costs across engineering, marketing, manufacturing and sales between 2019 and 2022, saving a total of $25.5bn. It also said earlier this year that it would not invest in next generations of traditional Ford sedans for North America.

The car giant, which was founded more than a century ago and has more than 200,000 staff, has been squeezed this year by higher aluminium and steel prices, a fall in demand for diesel-powered vehicles and the threat of Brexit on its most profitable market.

Ford sta per annunciare mega tagli in tutto il mondo, si parla di almeno 20.000 posti in meno. Europa e Sud America saranno le più colpite. Mondeo, S-Max e C-Max saranno cancellate.

Will Ford Act To Curb Mounting European Losses?

by Neil Winton on August 29, 2018 in Industry Analysis 2018
inShare
Will Ford Act To Curb Mounting European Losses?

“We now forecast Ford Europe losses to widen from $220 million this year to a loss of $1.2 billion by 2021”

As Ford Motor looks askance from Detroit at its loss-making European subsidiary, speculation mounts that drastic action might be on the cards as losses from cars undermines progress with SUVs and vans.

Ford Motor has said it is preparing big but unspecified changes to its European operations. Reports suggest this could range from a partnership deal with high-flying PSA Groupe to help make small car-making profitable, an expansion of its van-making plan with VW, to shutting everything unprofitable down.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley earlier this year speculated that Ford might follow the lead of General Motors, which sold its chronic loss making European subsidiaries Opel and Vauxhall to PSA last year. At the time it valued the European operation at a negative $5 billion.

It has updated its forecasts, and now says Ford Europe is worth a negative $7 billion, at least.

“We now forecast Ford Europe losses to widen from $220 million this year to a loss of $1.2 billion by 2021. Factoring in nothing more than just the change of our forecasts through 2021 would take our valuation of Ford Europe to negative $7 billion or more,” Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said.

“Ford Europe has 54,000 employees throughout dozens of facilities with extremely strong labour unions and large unfunded pension plans. In Ford´s 2Q18 presentation, they display an exhibit that suggests less than ½ of the region´s revenues account for over 200 per cent of EBIT (earnings before interest and tax). In our view, the high performing businesses (Transit and Ranger) are the businesses worth investing in.”

No positive long-term value
“Excluding commercially-oriented businesses, we do not believe the Ford brand has positive long term value in the European retail passenger vehicle market. We can envision the majority of restructuring costs aimed at Europe alone,” Jonas said.

In the first half of 2018, Ford Europe lost $73 million, pre-tax, compared with an $88 million profit in the same period last year. Ford expects that loss to reach $234 million for all of 2018.

In the first half of 2018 Ford sales in Western Europe slipped 3.3 per cent to 517,200.

After the earnings report, Ford said its Transit van, Kuga SUV and Ranger pickup were making money and SUVs would be the focus for future profitability.

Last year Ford Europe profit fell 81 per cent to $234 million, hit by rising costs and Brexit related exchange rate problems with Britain’s currency. In an interview last March, Ford Europe CEO Steve Armstrong said he expected 2018 to be more profitable than 2017, and the margin target remained 6 per cent.

Ford and VW announced in June they were thinking about designing and making vans and commercial vehicles together. Ford said in a statement that the potential alliance wouldn’t involve equity sharing.

This fuelled speculation this could be linked to Ford disposing of its unprofitable European operation, as part of its corporate fitness plan aiming to cut $25.5 billion in costs by 2022. Its commercial van business in Europe is highly profitable, with margins often comparable to BMW, Mercedes and Audi’s closer to 10% on upmarket vehicles.

VW Deal
After the VW deal Bernstein Research analyst Max Warburton said Ford/VW probably wouldn’t be more than a series of joint projects.

“But this won’t stop the market discussing whether this marks the start of something bigger and may herald a swap of assets, or even more,” Warburton said.

“Ford is strong in U.S. light trucks, but struggling in Europe. VW is strong in Europe but almost irrelevant in the U.S. and hopeless in light truck. Ford is behind VW in electric vehicles. Ford is a million miles from VW in China. Scale doesn’t solve everything, but there may be some logic in working together on specific projects,” Warburton said.

Nel ben mezzo delle discussioni sul destino di Ford Europe (ristrutturazione radicale con abbandono di tutti i segmenti tranne crossover e pick up, joint ventures con un costruttore terzo, chiusura) gli analisti automotive urgono una consolidazione tra i diversi player, soprattutto nel settore generalista.
Unanimemente Ford Europe e FCA si trovano al centro dei deboli, entrambe non hanno una massa critica per rimanere stabilmente redditizie. In casa FCA il rilancio di Alfa e Maserati richiederà ancora molti investimenti, il marchio Fiat è destinato a diventare poca cosa ma soprattutto la divisione dei veicoli commerciali è sotto attacco da parte dei concorrenti.
Il mercato è dominato dal trio Vw-PSA e RNM che da sole costituiscono il 54% del totale mentre Daimler e Bmw presidiano il settore premium.
JLR ha visto i margini evaporare dal 16% a -2%, ormai si parla chiaramente di E-Pace e XE come dei flop. Modelli importanti come Discovery sport e Discovery devono essere spinti con sconti consistenti.
L’alleanza Ford-Vw è focalizzata sui veicoli commerciali ma alcuni ipotizzano che Ford chieda aiuto a Vw anche per le auto.
Si annunciano tempi difficili.

DETROIT -- With its stock trading near a 6-year low late last month, Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Hackett gathered the automaker's top 300 executives near its headquarters in Michigan for a global leadership meeting.

Hackett's message: Ford must put in motion plans to restructure its business now in order to secure promised costs savings, Ford executives present at the meeting said.

"We have clarity of purpose and now it's time to take action," Hackett told Reuters in an interview.

A key part of that plan to save money calls for Ford to deepen partnerships with other automakers around the world to share factory floor capacity and develop vehicles together, Ford executives told Reuters.

Specifically, they said Ford is engaged in talks with Germany's Volkswagen AG and India's Mahindra about expanding product and technology alliances.

With Volkswagen, discussions are focused on how to expand a commercial vehicle tie-up they previously announced to include collaboration in South America and Europe -- where Ford is losing money -- and co-develop other types of vehicles, according to a Volkswagen executive and two sources familiar with Ford's thinking who asked not to be identified.

Pablo Di Si, CEO for Volkswagen in Latin America, told Reuters the companies are studying a partnership in Brazil and the talks are "advancing positively," although he did not expect an announcement until 2019.


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A VW spokesman declined further comment on the alliance discussions.

An expanded alliance would give Volkswagen access to some of Ford's most profitable vehicles, including the Transit commercial vans and Ranger compact pickups, said the two sources. VW could also help Ford strengthen its money-losing South American and European operations by combining vehicle production in those markets, the sources said.

Separately, product sharing talks are underway with Mahindra & Mahindra, including using the Indian automaker as a benchmark to bring down supplier costs in the region, two other people familiar with Mahindra's plans said. The first vehicle from the platform they are jointly developing will likely be launched in 2020, they added.

A spokesman for Mahindra did not respond to a request for comment.

The twin efforts are meant to help remake Ford in conjunction with the $11 billion restructuring it outlined for the next three to five years. Ford needs to improve profitability because it is investing billions of dollars to develop electric and self-driving vehicles, and gearing up for a major roll out of products over the next two years.

Hackett, who recently spoke with the heads of Volkswagen and Mahindra, told Reuters the alliance talks are going well and hold a lot of promise for Ford. He declined to comment on specific deal structures being discussed or locations, however.

Broader product and cost-sharing deals with Volkswagen and Mahindra could allow the No. 2 U.S. automaker to reduce the number of different vehicles it builds and shrink engineering and purchasing costs, Ford executives said.

Fewer vehicle architectures, combined with increased numbers of electric vehicles, would also help Ford reduce the number of plants and employees it needs for that work over the next several years, according to the two sources familiar with Ford's thinking.

The moves are aimed to help Ford hit its goal of doubling global pretax profit margins to 8 percent by 2020, up from 4.3 percent in the second quarter of this year.

Hackett remains under pressure to show results. The stock is down about 24 percent this year.

"Hackett's job really is to cut the costs," said Edgar Wachenheim III, chairman of Greenhaven Associates, which is Ford's ninth largest investor with almost 33 million shares at the end of June. "You have this possibility that Hackett can eliminate the $4.5 billion of losses [in its weaker operations] that were there in 2017 and the earnings will shoot up."

The capital demands currently in the industry have never been greater, Ford executive vice president Joe Hinrichs told Reuters at the company's headquarters outside Detroit.

"A big opportunity is around leveraging other people's strengths," Hinrichs, who is president of global operations, said of the alliances. "There's a lot of opportunity to share capital, share engineering resources."

Ford and Volkswagen said in June they were discussing whether to jointly develop and build a range of commercial vehicles, including vans. The commercial vehicle deal is a "quick win" and more will follow with VW, said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford's executive vice president in charge of Ford's product development.

"If you look on paper, we complement each other really well," he said of Ford and Volkswagen. "There's opportunities for some synergies without us stepping on each other."

Alliances also offer automakers the chance to share the costs, Hinrichs said.

"Everyone wants higher capacity utilization, but they want someone else to come to their capacity, and so we have to work through that," he said.

In Europe, Ford's Mondeo sedan and S-Max, C-Max and Galaxy minivans are set to be phased out when they reach the end of their product lives over the next several years, two other people close to the company said. That will ultimately lead to capacity cuts and job losses at assembly plants in Valencia, Spain and Saarlouis, Germany, the sources said.

The level of optimism at the annual leadership meeting last month about Ford's transformation was high, and now those executives want to get the message out more broadly to employees, according to Ford's Thai-Tang.

"We have the right plan," he said. "We now have to go execute and execute quickly."

Ford ha annunciato di voler espandere l’alleanza con Vw, oltre al settore dei veicoli commerciali (Transit e Ranger) ci potrebbero essere altre aree come l’ Europa e il Sud America. Ford è in difficoltà con una redditività in costante calo.

Auto industry observers say Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen would be an ideal marriage as the two carmakers engage in serious discussions about a potential partnership with unlimited potential.

"Something big is brewing," said John McElroy, Autoline.tv host and longtime industry analyst.

"Look, if it isn't, (Ford CEO) Jim Hackett can't survive. He has got to drop a bombshell on the industry."

Analysts note that the car companies recently initiated talks about small partnerships, but each may be motivated to think big because of their limited product lines and limited regional scope.

VW is strong in Asia, South America and Europe, and lacks vehicles in the high-profit full-size pickup category.

Ford dominates the U.S. with its lucrative F-Series pickup trucks and SUVs.

"Ford is already flirting with joint ventures with VW," said Jon Gabrielsen, an independent market economist who advises automakers and suppliers. "So, the immediate question before Ford now is, does one do a difficult but orderly marriage now or wait to be forced to do a disorderly fire sale under duress later? I see millimeter steps at a time when they should be taking a massive leap."


The most logical alliance partner for Ford would be Volkswagen, he said. Ford is strong in the U.S. where VW is weak, and Volkswagen is strong in markets where Ford is weak, particularly Asia.

"In 2017, VW was No. 1 in China while Ford was only No. 10 in an overcrowded market with over 70 players that is ripe for consolidation in which only the top few will survive," Gabrielsen said.

Ford and VW announced in June that the two companies had signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore several joint projects, including (but not limited to) joint development of a range of commercial vehicles to better serve global markets. Both companies said they want to strengthen global competitiveness.

While the MOU is designed to allow for confidential exploration of a potential partnership, any strategic alliance explicitly "would not involve equity arrangements, including cross ownership stakes," news releases said at the time.


Decision pending

A Volkswagen spokesman declined to comment to the Free Press about "speculation." But a top company official's recent interview in Germany offers insight.

"We are currently exploring the possibilities of a collaboration. I am very confident that we will have something more concrete to say about this in the coming months," Thomas Sedran, the new chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, told a Hanover, Germany, newspaper on Aug. 31. "However, nothing definite has been decided yet. Only when this is the case can we think about how we might be able to develop the next generations of models together."

VW is talking to Ford "about various projects" with a "clear focus on light commercial vehicles," he said. "Although Volkswagen is the largest car manufacturer in the world, we still don't have the scale in certain areas to achieve optimal cost positions."

Asked if VW Commercial Vehicles and Ford would "carry out production together," Sedran responded, "All this is part of the talks. I must ask for some patience here."


Together, the iconic German and American companies could dominate the industry.

Ford makes nearly 40 percent of all full-size pickup trucks sold in the United States. And VW sells nearly 15 percent of the vehicles purchased in China, the largest auto market in the world.

Jennifer Flake, executive director of communications at Ford, told the Free Press this week, "Ford is committed to leveraging adaptive business models, which includes working with partners to improve our fitness and the value we create for all stakeholders. This strategic alliance with VW is another example. We currently have an MOU with Volkswagen AG, covering conversations about potential collaborations across a number of areas. For instance, we are exploring how and whether to collaborate on a range of commercial vehicles for customers."

She added, "We continue exploring a strategic alliance and will provide additional details as talks progress toward the end of the year. We believe the work streams – including commercial vehicles – have significant potential, but are not talking about values yet."

Ford and VW could save hundreds of millions through collaboration, analysts said.

"I think the commercial truck operations were a point of beginning for their discussions and, as they got more and more into it, they probably see a lot more synergies," said McElroy, whose father retired as a Ford executive. "No one is sure of the form it's going to take but, look, we need a lot of consolidation in the industry. There are too many car companies with too many brands making too many models."


Now is the time for automakers like Ford and VW to grow profit together, he and others said.

"You can share vehicle platforms and powertrains," McElroy said. "I don't think people buying cars even know what's under the hood. It doesn't matter. I mean, Mustang GT? Those people do. And Audi RS? They do, too. But 90 percent of the car-buying public doesn't know or care. Why not share all that stuff?"

Ivan Drury, senior manager of industry analysis for Edmunds, said VW and Ford have virtually no product overlap and collaboration makes "more and more sense" when examining the data.

"They're just not making the same products," he said. "And we've seen so many mergers with automakers."

Reasons for caution

Skeptics point to the Daimler-Chrysler merger that dissolved unhappily.

Ford has had its own failed experiences, having acquired and disposed of Volvo and Jaguar, and selling its controlling stake in Mazda.


The idea of a VW-Ford collaboration would likely have difficulties, said Jeoff Burris, founder of Plymouth-based Advanced Purchasing Dynamics, a supply chain consultant to auto suppliers primarily in North America.

"Where it falls apart is culturally," he said. "Stoic Germans with freewheeling Americans."

But looking in 2018 at past partnerships among automakers and large suppliers is outdated thinking, analysts said. All bets are off in 2018 as auto companies battle each other as well as tech companies for market share and edges in technology. It's more and more costly to be an automaker now, and scale is essential to survival. Transportation is evolving faster than ever; only the strong and agile will survive, Gabrielsen said.

The Ford-VW numbers are compelling, analysts said again and again.

Gabrielsen noted that in 2017:

–Ford had 13.9 percent of the market share versus 4.5 percent for VW in North America.

–VW had 10.6 percent of the market share versus 8.9 percent for Ford in South America

–VW had 10 percent of the market share versus 3.4 percent for Ford in Asia Pacific.


–VW had 17 percent of the market share versus 7.5 percent for Ford in Europe.

Ford might consider pairing up with VW in China, based on a previous arrangement between the two in Latin America, said Burris, who worked for Ford from 1984 to 1997 and most recently oversaw global responsibilities for purchasing brakes, steering and suspension.

VW's Sedran said in August that the two have a good history that could bode well for future arrangements.

"Fortunately, the partners are not complete strangers," he said. "(Volkswagen) and Ford have worked closely together before, for example in AutoLatina, a strategic alliance for South America. The interesting thing is that when this joint venture came to an end in 1995, there was no conflict or bad opinion of one another. Today we have key figures on both sides who were involved back then. The cultures of the companies would be a good match."

Meanwhile, Ford announced this month that it would begin workforce reductions globally in coming months while implementing CEO Hackett's vision to make Ford more "fit" and competitive. Thousands of white-collar jobs are expected to be eliminated as the company searches for better efficiencies.

Industry experts say job tightening would likely happen in places where VW is already strong and Ford is already weak, so a partnership wouldn't actually impact the planned jobs reduction.

"We are the market leader in Europe but less well represented than we have come to expect from Volkswagen in many other regions," Sedran said. "I recently spoke about the scarcity of resources – this has also repeatedly slowed down the development of new markets. We have more scope for internationalization ... Ford would also open up new opportunities for us internationally."

VW has repeatedly failed to become a major player in the U.S. and failed, Burris said. He wondered about the Ford family turning over the keys to VW one day.

'Brilliant move'

"I don't think it can come from Ford buying Volkswagen or a co-merger of equals," said Burris, who couldn't stop raving about his recently purchased 2018 Ford F-150 pickup truck. "If Volkswagen could pull it off, it would be a brilliant move."

On paper, from every angle, the allure of a Ford-VW partnership globally would be jaw-dropping, analysts said.

But nothing can happen without the support of the Ford family, which founded the iconic company 115 years ago and retains controlling interest.

Investment analysts have been critical of the leadership, in part saying Hackett hasn't been clear about the path forward. Moody's Investors Service in August downgraded Ford's investment rating to one notch above junk, and stock is dipping to post-recession lows in recent weeks, making analysts wonder if someone might decide to accumulate shares during this time of great anticipation.

Volkswagen, to be sure, has its own problems. After being caught cheating on diesel emissions tests, it's been fined a total of nearly $33 billion after German prosecutors on Tuesday penalized its Audi subsidiary $926 million. Former VW environmental manager Oliver Schmidt was sentenced by a Detroit federal district court judge to seven years in prison in the scandal.

Nonetheless, VW achieved its goal two years ago of becoming the world's largest automaker. Ford is fifth.

People throughout the industry are watching carefully, including Gabrielsen.

"If I were VW, I'd acquire Ford as stock continues declining. Things are bad for Ford in three of four regions globally and in cars in North America. VW has three-and-a-half times the market share of Ford in China, more than twice as much market share in the EU and a quarter more share in South America."

Gabrielsen said he can't understand the lack of urgency by the Dearborn-based automaker.

"Ford can screw around with management layer reductions in North America and partnership in the other three regions instead of being acquired, in a desperate attempt to remain independent, but concurrently, the next auto downturn is coming," said Gabrielsen, an Ann Arbor native who is based in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. He travels frequently to Detroit, Chicago and Atlanta to meet with clients, primarily U.S.-based global companies.

"It is just a question of how soon. But, at the pace they are moving, the downturn will hit before they are done restructuring," he said. "A VW-Ford combination would be the undisputed largest automaker in the world, leaving the (now) near-tie with Toyota in the dust."

Gli analisti stanno sognando una fantasiosa fusione tra Ford e Vw, ovviamente sarebbe Wolfsburg a comandare. Nonostante il disastro del dieselgate Vw sta riuscendo a ricostruite una cassa di liquidità enorme, la cessione del settore trucks potrebbe portare fino a 24 miliardi di euro. Ford viene sottoposta ad una pressione enorme per ridurre i costi. La redditività in Nord America (indubbiamente il cuore pulsante di Ford) è in forte calo, pur di risparmiare soldi molti progetti sono stati posticipati con gravi conseguenze. Cina, Europa e Sud America continuano a dare cattivi risultati. Vw riuscirebbe ad avere finalmente un’ importante presenza negli Stati Uniti. Io rimango scettico rispetto a queste prospettive, sotto Trump la sola idea che un’icona industriale finisca sotto il controllo dei disprezzati tedeschi non è una possibilità.

Difficile pensarla diversamente da te...
La cosa impressionante è come Volkswater sia uscita dal disastro diesel gate, praticamente più forte di prima. Nonostante un sindacato esoso, piattaforme costosissime continuano a macinare vendite a ritmo impressionante. In più Bwm ha deciso di buttare nel cesso anni di sviluppo d'eccellenza per mettersi a fare balenottere per il mercato cinese, a parte la concorrenza di Mb e Toyota non ci sono altri reali concorrenti. Dovrebbe far riflettere molti, solo investendo tanto e bene si creano aziende di successo a lungo periodo, non appena si smette di farlo, si vive di rendita per un po', poi si finisce in Fiat...

Va ha ancora diversi rischi legali, ma il peggio sembra essere passato (siamo anche a 30 miliardi e passa), personalmente credo che assorbire una grande azienda come Ford costringerebbe a tagli mostruosi da entrambe le sponde dell 'oceano. Vw ha ancora una lunga strada nel razionalizzare il gruppo, adesso realizza 25 miliardi di utile l' anno (comprese le jvs cinesi), ulteriori miglioramenti sono possibili.
Ford si trova di fronte a difficili scelte strategiche, non ha marchi premium ( Lincoln non lo è), realizza profitti solo in Nord America mentre nel resto del mondo sta perdendo quote e soldi. Il mercato azionari si aspettano tagli draconiani con la speranza di un abbandono di Europa e Sud America.

berg
October 26, 2018 10:05 CET

Ford is in serious negotiations with Volkswagen Group to broaden their alliance beyond commercial vehicles in ways that would help the American automaker reverse losses in Europe and South America and share costs of pricey technology and small cars.

“We’re having a very broad set of discussions about how we can help each other around the world,” Bob Shanks, Ford’s chief financial officer, said in an interview Thursday. “Collaboration isn’t being limited in any way whatsoever, whether it’s different types of technology, product segments or geography.”

The talks with VW are taking place at a pivotal time for Ford. While the stock soared almost 10 percent after the company beat earnings estimates, the automaker is restructuring globally and has backed away from margin targets that it had set for 2020. Partnering with rivals is one way to lower costs and get new cars and technology to market faster.

Ford is in similar talks with Mahindra & Mahindra to broaden an alliance that began to develop models for India and other emerging markets, including SUVs and electric cars.

“With VW and Mahindra, we haven’t put boundary conditions in terms of where we could collaborate,” Shanks said. “We’re looking at the strengths and the gaps of each company on both sides of the table and trying to understand how we can help each other.”

Hackett’s hint

Ford CEO Jim Hackett hinted that the partnerships were progressing when he spoke to analysts on the company’s earnings call.

“We look forward to sharing more about this global redesign of the company,” said Hackett, who is leading an $11 billion restructuring of the company. “We are going to be coming to you more frequently, including we’re going to talk about these strategic partnerships in the near future.”

Ford shares rose the most in more than nine years Thursday after the company surprised investors with a $2 billion pretax profit in North America, on the strength of sales of high-profit pickups and SUVs. The result is early validation for the automaker’s controversial decision to abandon sedans in America.

While there’s still much to be done to update Ford’s aging lineup and prepare for the self-driving future, the shares rallied after having plunged to an almost nine-year low earlier in the week.

“There was fear that we might disappoint,” Shanks said Thursday during a break from meetings with investors and analysts in New York. “There was relief that the business not only met expectations, but showed the strength of North America, the strength of Ford Credit and the fact that the overseas operations actually got slightly better.”

VW history

Striking deals with VW and Mahindra could further improve Ford’s outlook. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas predicts Ford will lose $3.6 billion in Europe from 2019 to 2021, making it the least-profitable automaker in that market.

In South America, where VW also operates, Ford has lost more than $4 billion since 2012. Sharing costs to develop cars and new technology with another automaker could help reverse those losses.

“In the world we’re in, where the future is so ill-defined because it’s yet to be created, companies are going to have to collaborate more together,” Shanks said. “We have a history with VW. We get along with them. And if you look at the strengths and weaknesses of each of us, we match up really, really well.”

The same is true with Ford’s relationship with Mahindra, Shanks said.

“That’s very important in these types of collaborations because getting along well is a good part of the formula for success,” Shanks said. “There’s lots of examples where that hasn’t been the case and, ultimately, they haven’t succeeded.”

Hurried discussions

Shanks wouldn’t say if there is a deadline for reaching deals with the automakers, but he said talks are proceeding with urgency.

“We’re trying to get things done as quickly as we can because we’re all trying to improve the fortunes of each of our companies,” Shanks said. “So, we’re moving to get clarity and get moving on to the actual collaboration as quickly as possible.”

The partnerships and a parade of new products coming next year, including the mid-size Ranger pickup and redesigned versions of the Explorer and Escape SUVs, will begin to show the shape of Ford’s turnaround plan, Shanks said.

“Starting next year, the picture will start to come more and more into focus,” Shanks said. “It’s something that won’t be a big bang. It will be done as fast as we possibly can, but it will be done in chunks and pieces

Bob Shanks, cfo di Ford, ha dichiarato che con Vw si sta studiando un'alleanza molto più vasta del preventivato. È esclusa una fusione però si parla di accordi in Nord/Sud America ed Europa. Secondo alcuni analisti per salvare le prossime Focus e Fiesta potrebbe essere utilizzata la piattaforma MQB. In cambio gli americani fornirebbero a Wolfsburg le basi tecniche per pick up e veicoli commerciali. È pensabile anche una condivisione del pianale MEB.