It IS on the Honda board...what do you expect? I think a lot of people have had a negative opinion of American cars for so long that they are kind of surprised to see something interesting coming out of Detroit. They might not have bought on their last go-around, but who knows for next time? Cars like the FFH will certainly help Ford in the "green" circles. I hope they have a couple other home runs in the works for broader audiences.

BTW, I also own an MMH so I DID buy Ford for my last car purchase--I have been very happy with it.

 

Something I didn't know...the FFH is made in good ol' Mexico. Locally, someone was griping that "you shouldn't buy a Japanese car, buy one made in America to save American jobs!" Given the choice of the FFH and a Nissan Altima, he chose the FFH. He didn't know the Nissan was made in TN, and now MI.

 

Last time I checked, Mexico was in North America, making it an American made car. The more companies who do this will help out Mexico so we don't have so much illegal immigration of Mexicans. A healthy team approach with Mexico is directly to our USA advantage.

Most of the parts that are assembled in Mexico are manufactured in the USA, and it was designed in the USA, which supports the good college educated jobs, engineering, accounting, etc.

Muhalley, Ford's Chairman, said that he wanted to make at least $100 on every FFH, so the only way they could do that was to get non-UAW assemblers. He did not want to lose money on every car like Ford had done for years on the Escorts, just to get the average Ford FE numbers higher. I think he deserves credit

I bought one and I like it alot. I got a lot of content and features for under $30K, including nav, sync, and a moonroof. The average mpg since I got it 3000 miles ago is just over 40, based on actual gas station transactions.

See attachment below, or at https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...on+hybrid.html

 

Direct labor represents about 15% of the cost of a vehicle. If you can save half of that, it can be a big number. (Almost $1,900 on a $25,000 vehicle.) Taxes represent about $5,500 on the same vehicle - more if you actually make a profit on the vehicle. That leaves about $15,500 to pay for all the parts, tooling, field support, warranty, benefits for workers and retirees, etc. When that cost is spread out over the US manufacturers base, it represents many jobs in the Companies and the suppliers work places.
When a foreign manufacturer assembles a vehicle in the US, the price they "pay" for the parts they import wipes out any taxable profit. Much of their remaining expense, after direct labor, goes back to support jobs in their home country (design and tooling, sub-assembly, parts, etc.) Granted, they hire American factory workers and pay them well, but that is about the limit of their participation in our economy. Billions of $s go back to their homelands creating more imbalance of trade and US debt to foreigh nations.

 

Not gonna question the statistics as I am too lazy to check BUT what good will it do if the local companies do not manufacture a the better product. I think the earlier comment about this being funny that everyone seems to like a Ford and not the other makes is a bit simplistic. I beleive many of us have gone that route and been burned AND with a bad dealer support network, never went back. BUT we as Americans still quietly wish that at least one of the American makes will get it right and start selling superior cars in the US market and Ford is finally getting there with the new FFH as well as some traditional products that look good, appeal to the market and are dependable.

If it were not for the price differential, I would have highly considered buying the FFH as its everything i wanted on my list, even if its made in Mexico. Perhaps next round when the technology is firmly in place at Ford and the Fusion continues to live up to expectations...