A twist: GM and Ford Merger looking increasingly more viable (Link)

Ford and GM have worked on a few projects, together in the last few years.
GM has had the asian market covered more than any USA builders.
I dont think Ford would actualy merge, completely.
There is alot of deception in Who builds the best or who is in trouble. Example, JD Powers owns kelly Blue book. IMO deception in the media covers more than we know.

 

Building passenger cars and trucks are the restaurant businesses of manufacturing. It's tough to make money at it.

Margins are narrow in the best of times. Overhead cost is insane and consumers are fickled. Complying with government regulations cost a fortune, which is why all cars and SUVs are all starting to look identical. It's an expensive proposition to develop and bring a new design to the market due to the government. On top of all this, we're probably within 20 years of electric vehicles starting to take over.

EVs are simple compared to ICE vehicles, a lot less moving parts wearing out. So we're looking at a huge shift in the market over the next few decades. With EVs becoming more popular maybe we'll go back to boutique carriage companies like in the old days when companies like Fisher focused on building bodies and interiors. ....who knows.

Then you have demographics shifting more and more to congested urban centers, where fewer people will go to the trouble and expense of owning personal car, SUV, or truck.

Something to consider is the fact that every American car company has gone bankrupt except for Ford and Tesla, and they still took some .gov money. It's not a business or stock I'd want to own.

 

Ford took no gov $$. Ford might be in some trouble, but not enough to merger IMO. Ford started changing how they made so many different parts world wide. They consolodated and lowered the amount of diferent parts. They started this almost 20yrs., before the auto industry got in trouble. The simplest example is. Ford lowerd there steering wheels world wide from almost 200 worldwide styles to 20. There are many other parts that were engineered into design, worldwide. This was many years before bail out. All the other manufactors didnot do anything and went into the hole.
Coming from a long time 69yr old Ford guy. If Ford compltely mergers with anyone, I will be suprised. I do expect to see some more engineering joint projects..

 

I'm afraid you are mistaken. Ford did borrow money from the Federal government.

"Ford Motor owes the government $5.9 billion it borrowed in June 2009, the same month GM filed for bankruptcy. By Sept. 15, Ford needs to start paying that money back. In a government filing, the carmaker said $577 million is due within the next year, and the full amount must be paid off by June 15, 2022."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joannm...y-the-answer-might-surprise-you/#59bf1d116735

 

Ford: used its $5.9 billion loan to convert two truck plants to small-car production and to develop more fuel-efficient vehicles like the Ford Focus EV and C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid, on sale this fall. Loan repayments start in September. Ford says it will spend $14 billion over the next seven years on advanced-technology vehicles. Article dated aug 2012

It appears to me not to be a bail out. It appears to be $$ they all took to revamp into more effient vehicles. Ford didnot take the bailout $$.

 

Oh, I agree. As I said the only two American car companies that haven't gone bankrupt are Ford and Tesla. But even both of them took government money. Tesla repaid its government loans early. I'm not sure about Ford.