Ghosn hints at killing Nissan Titan - Page 13

orangepeel · 12-20-2007, 03:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BKW

Ford going bankrupt = a REAL possibility.

btw: Have you seen the spy photos of the "so called highly touted" 2009 F150 yet? Look ma, they changed the grille!..and little else.

They are supposed to be offering bigger displacement(more HP) engines in it also,but I agree with you,other than the grill I don't see any huge changes.Maybe they're going to offer a better tranny?That 4 speed auto they have is just horrible.

Like you said, they are deep doo doo right now,and it probably isn't going to get any better when that loan comes due.

Elias60 · 12-20-2007, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BKW

Ford already is in deep scheiss, very deep scheiss. Did'ja know that Ford put up the entire company for collaterral in order to get loans to keep operating?

Recently Ford's new prez, Alan Mulally..a former bean counter at Boeing said that.."Ford was in a race against time."

Ford has been trying to sell Land Rover and Jaguar for over two years...so far...no takers. Both these companies haven't made Ford ONE cent of profit since Ford acquired them. Estimates of what Ford has spent on Jag alone run over 15 Billion Dollars. Jag sells about 1500 TOTAL cars a month in the US, the RED ink keeps on flowing.

Most of Ford's sales are down this year, and have been dropping since 2005. The stock has hit the toilet...last time I looked, it was $8.25 a share.

How is Ford going to repay that multi-billion dollar loan which comes due in two years?

Selling Jag and Land Rover won't help, they'll prolly have to give them away like Daimler-Benz did when they sold Chrysler to Cerberus.

Ford going bankrupt = a REAL possibility.

btw: Have you seen the spy photos of the "so called highly touted" 2009 F150 yet?

Look ma, they changed the grille!

..and little else.

BKW, its great to see you back with your insights on the automobile industry this place is not the same without you. I for one would like to see you here more often. Your the kind of people that make this forum worth while coming to I was wondering what happened to you!

BuckyBadger · 12-20-2007, 06:17 AM

I'm not feeling the love at RV.net
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fu...d/20732487.cfm

GO_VOLS! · 12-20-2007, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BKW

Renault owns 33% of Nissan, which by Japanese standards, gives them controlling interest. Renault spends next to ZERO on vehicle ads, and not just for the Titan, but for most Nissan vehicles. How many ads have you seen that mention, for example, that the King Cab has a 8 foot bed, or the Crew Cab has a 7 foot bed? I haven't seen ONE. Not on TV, nor in print.

Yes, Renault owns a controlling share in Nissan, BUT the companies are primarily conjoined through Purchasing and Engineering, NOT Marketing. Ghosn entrusts the management of each company to market and sell their own vehicles as they see best fit b/c they should be the "experts" for their own company. Since Renault doesn't even sell vehicles in most of the regions Nissan does, how can they tell Nissan how to sell their vehicles?

I HAVE seen several commercials on TV recently advertising the new beds.

I'll type more later b/c I have a meeting to go to now.

Elias60 · 12-20-2007, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GO_VOLS!

Yes, Renault owns a controlling share in Nissan, BUT the companies are primarily conjoined through Purchasing and Engineering, NOT Marketing. Ghosn entrusts the management of each company to market and sell their own vehicles as they see best fit b/c they should be the "experts" for their own company. Since Renault doesn't even sell vehicles in most of the regions Nissan does, how can they tell Nissan how to sell their vehicles?

I HAVE seen several commercials on TV recently advertising the new beds.

I'll type more later b/c I have a meeting to go to now.

This maybe true but Renault is still the Parent company and tells everybody their budget for the their marketing dollars. If you don't have the money what good is it you can't have effective marketing. Marketing 101 where is the "emotional Connection " you need to have to sell your product successfully? Chevy has it " this is my country" Ford " Built ford tough" Dodge " Hemi" what does Nissan have? This is a major problem with the Nissan Brand marketing problem.

GO_VOLS! · 12-20-2007, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elias60

Marketing 101 where is the "emotional Connection " you need to have to sell your product successfully? Chevy has it " this is my country" Ford " Built ford tough" Dodge " Hemi" what does Nissan have?

Uh, "The Titan of Trucks."

daptech · 12-20-2007, 08:36 AM

This should make it easy to understand.

I thought Renault rescued Nissan from near bankruptcy.

GO_VOLS! · 12-20-2007, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BKW

(incentive spending) What did Renault do to counter this? NOT ONE DAMN THING!.

Both the KC and CC have $5K on the hood as an incentive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BKW

How many F150 & Silverado/Sierra sales are actually being bought by individuals in today's market? Ford and GM OWN the fleet market, prolly 50% of their sales are to those customers.

Because of the gas prices, the market is boiling down to the TRUE p/up users. The wannabees are scurring like mice from a sinking ship b/c they can't stand the sight of the $80 fill-ups. So, what you're left with are the fleet sales to companies who buy 10+ trucks at a time. Through accounting practices of depreciating assets, the trucks are no longer worth anything in ~5 years, so they run out and buy more so they can write off the payments as a tax deduction. Typically work trucks are ready to be replaced after they're fully depreciated (by accounting standards), so it only makes sense to sell to those who will they more often. Yes, F and C own those markets, but it's only because they CURRENTLY offer work trucks. Our trucks, until recently were mostly intended for private sales / ownership.

GO_VOLS! · 12-20-2007, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BKW

Ford has been trying to sell Land Rover and Jaguar for over two years...so far...no takers. Both these companies haven't made Ford ONE cent of profit since Ford acquired them. The stock has hit the toilet...last time I looked, it was $8.25 a share. How is Ford going to repay that multi-billion dollar loan which comes due in two years? Selling Jag and Land Rover won't help, they'll prolly have to give them away like Daimler-Benz did when they sold Chrysler to Cerberus.

I agree - Ford's buying spree in the '90s was rediculous and their biggest blunder was aquiring Land Rover (from BWM, I think). On the flip side, I read the other day that Ford finally sold the 2 of these companies to an INDIAN company called Tata Motors. Boy would I HATE to work for those companies!

Ford managed to get a lousy $2B for them both.

daptech · 12-20-2007, 09:12 AM

I think Ghosn's comment to Newsweek is indication that
Nissan has been considerering the issue for some time, not
something that just happened.
Forget about the diesel headline & read the entire article from
July 2007............more indication that Nissan is going to
put the emphasis on fuel efficient cars, not trucks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...041701888.html

shawnwat4 · 12-20-2007, 12:37 PM

WE NEED MORE COMMERCIALS LIKE THIS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4JKV...eature=related

or this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjt1H...eature=related

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuOPw...eature=related

watching those vids makes me excited to go get in my truck right now!

harrolldean · 12-20-2007, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shawnwat4

WE NEED MORE COMMERCIALS LIKE THIS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4JKV...eature=related

or this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjt1H...eature=related

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuOPw...eature=related

watching those vids makes me excited to go get in my truck right now!

I agree... I think I'll go make a trip around the block.

It's pretty sad though, I've never seen ANY of those commercials on TV.

shawnwat4 · 12-20-2007, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harrolldean

I agree... I think I'll go make a trip around the block.

It's pretty sad though, I've never seen ANY of those commercials on TV.

I have actually seen all of them at 1 time or another, and honestly, I saw the 3rd one while I was driving a Tacoma and I thought "now THATS a truck"
If they would market it better it would create such a buzz.

I have only seen the Heisman commercials and a recent one about the fully boxed frame, but this is probably my favorite

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkbu_EgIdyg

Quad T · 12-20-2007, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GO_VOLS!

Because of the gas prices, the market is boiling down to the TRUE p/up users. The wannabees are scurring like mice from a sinking ship b/c they can't stand the sight of the $80 fill-ups.

I totally agree. And I can only hope Nissan can figure out how to make enough profit to keep the Titan alive, and not need 6-digit sales figures. If they could make a profit on 50-60k units per year, I suspect the Titan would be around for a very long time.

BKW · 12-20-2007, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orangepeel

They are supposed to be offering bigger displacement(more HP) engines in it also,but I agree with you,other than the grill I don't see any huge changes.Maybe they're going to offer a better tranny?That 4 speed auto they have is just horrible.No Scheiss Sherlock...tell me about it! The warranty costs exceeded ONE BILLION DOLLARS by 1985...more than Ford spent on ALL the previous warranty repairs for all the other auto trannies combined dating back to 1951!

Here's the info on the AOD from one who knows (see my profile for the reasons why). The AOD was not designed to operate in heavy stop and go traffic while in overdrive. The constant speed up/slow down caused the trans to shift in/out of overdrive..it didn't take long for this action to fry the trans..and fry they did, by the 1000's! The moral of the story = stay OUT of overdrive in heavy traffic. The E4OD isn't much better, and the other Ford transmissions (ATX-A4LD yadda yadda yadda) are also mostly crap...and have been since the 1980's.

Like you said, they are deep doo doo right now,and it probably isn't going to get any better when that loan comes due.

The 2009 F150 is supposed to hit the showrooms in the spring of 2008, but the larger V8 is not due till midyear 2009.

The diesel? Who knows when, and at 5-6 grand above the price of the gasser, how many will they sell?

This diesel is being developed in-house...so you can bet the farm there will be problems with it initially.

The POS transmission, AFAIK remains the same turd it's always been. The roots of that trans date to the AOD of 1980.