Word: carly
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...most visible legacy of Ford's hard times is its aerodynamic Taurus and Sable autos. At the turn of the decade, Ford's cars, like the boxy Fairmont, were literally so square that the company decided it would have to do more than just try to catch up with the European styles that most automakers were copying. Ford chose to jump way ahead, taking the risk that it might come up with another Edsel. Instead, Ford's roundish, so-called jelly- bean designs have enticed car buyers who had abandoned domestic makes for more voguish foreign nameplates. First came...
Some Wall Street investors contend that Ford may be turning into more of a marketing and importing company than a manufacturer. The experts fear that Ford, by subcontracting so much of its work, could conceivably become a hollow firm lacking the skills to build a car from start to finish. Ford imports its luxury Merkur from West Germany and intends to bring in other autos from Mexico, Australia, Brazil and Taiwan. Next year Ford plans to begin importing a minicar called the Festiva, which will be manufactured by Kia, the automaker's South Korean partner. Ford just missed winning another...
Ford has many strong products, however, that will help the company make a smooth transition to the next generation of vehicles. Ford hopes its Escort subcompact, the second-largestselling car in the U.S. after the Chevrolet Celebrity, will continue to haul in profits until the early 1990s. Moreover, Ford's truck sales, which represent 40% of the company's U.S. vehicle business, have jumped nearly 10% since last year because of the roaring popularity of pickup trucks and four-wheel-drive vehicles. For the next several years, at least, Ford's good times are likely to keep on truckin...
General Motors was in no mood to hold back last week. Dispirited by slumping profits and weary of accusations that it produces bland, look-alike autos, the company decided that it needed to give car buyers a peek at coming attractions. In a surprise marketing step, GM's Chevrolet division announced it would supply Avis, National and other car-rental agencies with several thousand advance models of its 1987 Corsica sedans and Beretta coupes. GM hopes that the cars, to be available for rent about three months ahead of their official March 12 debut, will turn some heads. The spiffy...
...creation. In the past four years, the zealously modernizing company has spent billions of dollars to build four new plants and to automate dozens of others but has failed to slash expenses sufficiently. GM was slow to close old factories and reduce its capacity. The company persisted in building cars at its traditional huge volume, even though its share of the U.S. new-car market declined from 47.6% in 1978 to 41.3% during the first nine months of this year...