Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

3 Cheers for Ford Motor Company and the New Taurus

Posted in:

Illinois

[posted by Mike Murray]

I’m Running short on time, so I will have to let the quotes and article titles do most of the talking for me. But I’d like to take a moment and thank the Ford for sticking with and investing in the South Side of Chicago through the good times and the bad. They have staked their comeback on the new Taurus and the South Side factory will take the lead in its production. Maybe my next car will be a Taurus…

* Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant starting production on new Taurus, SHO

The 2.7 million-square-foot plant long at 130th Street and Torrence Avenue has been integral to the South Side manufacturing corridor despite its initial geographic isolation from the rest of the city (when Henry Ford opened the plant in 1924, it was surrounded by marshland). It has seen generations of families working to produce some of the most storied vehicles in Ford’s history — from the Model T to the Thunderbird to the Taurus.[…]

Still, the plant has seen lean times. Last November Ford cut shifts from three to one, which resulted in 700 layoffs. The plant currently employs 1,372 workers, which is less than half the number during its heyday in the late 1970s.

“Whatever happens at this plant impacts the larger bistate area,” said Neil Bosanko, executive director of the South Chicago Chamber of Commerce. He pointed to the $88 million Ford invested in an adjacent manufacturing and supplier campus in 2004, which was supposed to boost both housing and the area economy. It didn’t happen quite that way, he said, because many of the workers lived in the suburbs or Indiana.[…]

The company invests in its products and Chicago Assembly, David Schoenecker, secretary and treasurer of United Auto Workers Local 551, said, citing the $400 million in improvements made in 2005. As a plant worker since 1976, he believes the facility has a reputation “for putting out a vehicle that is at times of the highest quality” the company has ever produced.

* Ford hoping to get more mileage out of Taurus

As Ford on Tuesday formally launched the 2010 Taurus, Gov. Pat Quinn pointed out to hundreds of cheering workers at the company’s Southeast Side factory that he too drives a Taurus, albeit a slightly older version. The new sedan just recently began arriving at dealers, and Ford hopes to get a few more miles from a car it once drove to the top of the sales heap.

The arrival comes on the heels of Ford posting its first year-over-year sales increase in July, led largely by improved sales of fuel-efficient cars. Ford and other automakers, including General Motors, have raced to introduce fuel-sipping vehicles and hybrids as high gas prices and the recession have consumers dumping trucks and sport utility vehicles.

“The pendulum has definitely swung back to cars,” Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, told the crowd, which included plant employees and Chicago-area Ford dealers.

The new Taurus “is going to be the flagship of the Ford brand,” he said.

They are not out of the woods yet…

* Ford unveils new Taurus at South Side plant

But analysts warn that Ford will have to resist the temptation to over build and kill the car’s economics. Hill said the old Taurus lost much of its appeal when Ford pushed it into the car rental fleets to absorb the huge volume of cars it was producing.

“They will have to do a much better job of matching customer demand to inventory,” said Hill. “The right strategy is to balance demand with production.”

But at least the federal government is doing what it can…

* Ford Pins Hopes on Sedan Made in Chicago

Fields says he hopes the company can keep up the momentum of the federal government’s so-called “cash for clunkers” program.

That program allows car owners to trade in their old gas-guzzlers in exchange for a government credit toward a new, more fuel-efficient car.

Ford posted its first monthly sales increase in two years Monday - a jump it contributed, in part, to the federal program.

* Clunkers by the numbers

Reid says Senate will OK $2 bil. to keep program going

posted by Mike Murray
Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 11:39 am

Comments

Wow - who does Governor Quinn think he is showing up to celebrate with people he obviously hates. After all, his decision to keep his ‘clunker’ is an insult to every Ford employee, and the families and communities that depend on new vehicle purchases. Shouldn’t he - like the good American that Washington is trying to bribe us all into being – rush out and purchase a Taurus as soon as it rolls of the line? Doesn’t the health of our entire national economy depend on people doing that? And doesn’t he care about the negative environmental impact of his late model car?

Sure, it might be unseemly for someone who makes a comfortable living on the public payroll to take advantage of a taxpayer subsidized discount, but maybe he can opt to not take the trade-in and just buy a new car outright.

Comment by grand old partisan Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 12:09 pm
Wow, $25k for a friggin Taurus? Who do they think they are charging ridiculous prices, Honda? I hope it succeeds as I did like the styling of the late 90’s (I think) Tauri and the 500.

Comment by Wumpus Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 12:29 pm
7 out of 10 of the top ten clunkers traded in were Fords. (mostly Explorers of 1994-1999, and one was a Windstar 1997) 2 out of 10 most purchased cars were Fords, the Focus and the Escape.

The Taurus that starts at $25K, claims an MPG of 19 city, 28 Hwy, which is good.

It also looks by the amount of Ford Clunkers traded in, that Ford was part of the problem, and now is trying to be part of the solution.

They has clips on all the local Chicago news last night at the Taurus plant, and they were saying it takes 26 hours to make each car. We could certainly use manufacturing jobs, especially on the South Side.

Comment by Third Generation Chicago Native Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 12:50 pm
Sorry, I think I’ll pass on new Fix Or Repair Daily. They used to make decent cars in that plant 30 years ago. Now, buying one is a crapshoot. I don’t have time to visit my repair shop every week.

Comment by Bill Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 12:52 pm
First a disclaimer….I drive a Ford product. ‘98 Mercury Mountaineer with over 150K miles.

I think Ford is one company who is producing better vehicles than in the past. Prior to ‘95, I wouldn’t have touched a Ford product with a 10 ft. pole. Nowdays, I think they compare favorably with GM and certainly Chrysler and are pretty close to Toyota, Nissan etc. Don’t forget that Ford did not accept stimulus money either.

I say good luck to Ford and particularly the S. side Taurus plant.

Comment by Stones Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 1:07 pm
This car looks beautiful. Innovative and “thinking-big”. Ford was in a tough spot a couple years ago, having to sell a lot of its assets to survive. Now, they are the top dog while GM and Chrysler go looking for handouts. Fords’ management was a lot smarter.
Fords’ quality is also great, especiallly in the cabin. I get in a GM product, and its like sittting in a ride at an amusement park ride. FORD..back on top baby!

Comment by cress Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 1:18 pm
My cousin has a Ford Focus wagon that has proven very reliable — definitely the equal of a Honda Civic another cousin has. I think in general the Ford products seem a lot more solid than they did. You go back 15 years and the only one that seemed solidly put together was the Escort, and even that was badly spoiled by the lame, horsepower-sapping, throttle fuel injection system it had (Everything today is, of course, port fuel injection, about a 20 percent gain in peak power for no fuel economy penalty).

However I think they have some work to do in positioning the new Taurus. Effectively, Ford’s medium size family car is no longer the Taurus — it’s the Fusion. The Taurus is now in a significantly larger and more plushly appointed category, going up against vehicles like the Toyota Avalon and VW Passat. And so Ford is going to have to consider crafting a slightly more upmarket image for it.

Comment by Angry Chicagoan Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 1:25 pm
Are you a south sider Mike?

Comment by Levois Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 2:03 pm
No. From Schaumbrug, north west suburbs

Comment by Mike Murray Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 2:41 pm
I knew there was something extra special about Mr. Murray.

Comment by Wumpus Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 3:11 pm
FORD = Found On Road Dead

Always has been and always will

Comment by BillORights Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 9:58 pm
What are there, a lot of Benz drivers on the blog? Unless you’re buying the real high end, over-engineered, impossible-to-get-repaired correctly German imports, you’re throwing your money away by not buying American.

As someone who used to sling a wrench for a living, I’ve always been amused by the anti- Big Three snobbery. Those little K-Car version BMWs and Benzs on the road are laughable. It doesn’t make you look like a Macher, but it does make you look like you’re compensating for something else.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 7:43 am
When you travel to foreign countries you see that most people buy cars made in their own country. They know that it is vital to their economic security. They create jobs for themselves. There are a lot of people in this country to fly the American flag on their foreign car. We tend to have a ‘me first’ mentality. Don’t get me wrong, I want a dependable car like everyone else. The only Toyota I ever had was a lemon. - First On Race Day - is for me.

Comment by Demented Avenger Friday, Aug 7, 09 @ 3:33 pm
Great Job to Ford. They are now crushing Toyota and the other anti-American worker foreign makes.

And before I hear people yelping that Honda is made in the USA, NO they are assembled here with chinese, korean and Japanese parts. In order for a car to be considered “Domestic” it must have 70% of its components made in the USA. Honda has not even reached 40% yet and they are the closest of all foreign car companies. Bottom line to all the cracker box foreign car buyers - don’t believe the hype about foreign car quality. Toyota had the most recalls of an car company in 2008, GM and Ford didn’t even have a car in the top ten.

Most of the cars recalled were the Honda and Toyota Hybrids. Do some research before you buy an anti-American worker car or any other product for that matter. Including anything you can buy at Wal-Mart (chinamart).

Comment by Joe Sunday, Aug 9, 09 @ 1:40 pm
my 2003 ford work van 100,000 miles just brakes and tires and regular maint. I haul a 2000lbs of equipment on it every day. My 2004 ranger has 145000 miles on it same maint. I own them,it is my own business (self employed). If they dont work I dont get a paycheck I dont have the luxury of punching the clock for someone else. I would not own any other truck!

Comment by cheeseman Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 8:34 pm