Ford Cuts Mazda Stake from 11% to 3.5%

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ford-C....html?x=0&.v=1

"Christopher Muto" > wrote in message
...
> http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ford-C....html?x=0&.v=1

Thanks Chris, interesting. I think Ford seems to have done a reasonable job
of turning itself around w/o totally depending on the American govt. I hope
they find their way back to true health and such.

Chris
99BBB

On Nov 18, 8:42*am, Christopher Muto > wrote:
> http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ford-C...zacks-20595483...

Thank God. The less blue oval I see under the hood of a Mazda, the
better. Those idiots couldn't engineer their way out of a wet paper
bag.

Chris

"Hal" > wrote in message
...
On Nov 18, 8:42 am, Christopher Muto > wrote:
> http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ford-C...zacks-20595483...

Thank God. The less blue oval I see under the hood of a Mazda, the
better. Those idiots couldn't engineer their way out of a wet paper
bag.

Chris


Maybe we should call this 'Chris's Miata Newsgroup' lol!

Chris
99BBB

I'm with you Chris. After being burned by "Ford Quality" twice (shame on
me) in the 80s, I'll never buy another one. They may indeed be better now,
probably are, but twice burnt is enough for me. 0% stake would be a
better level.

Rod
"Chris D'Agnolo" > wrote in message
...
> "Hal" > wrote in message
> ...
> On Nov 18, 8:42 am, Christopher Muto > wrote:
>> http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ford-C...zacks-20595483...
>
> Thank God. The less blue oval I see under the hood of a Mazda, the
> better. Those idiots couldn't engineer their way out of a wet paper
> bag.
>
> Chris
>
>
> Maybe we should call this 'Chris's Miata Newsgroup' lol!
>
> Chris
> 99BBB

On 2010-11-25 10:02:18 -0500, "SilverB" > said:

> I'm with you Chris. After being burned by "Ford Quality" twice (shame
> on me) in the 80s, I'll never buy another one. They may indeed be
> better now, probably are, but twice burnt is enough for me. 0% stake
> would be a better level.
>
> Rod
> "Chris D'Agnolo" > wrote in message
> ...
>> "Hal" > wrote in message
>> ...
On
>>
>> Nov 18, 8:42 am, Christopher Muto > wrote:
>>> http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ford-C...zacks-20595483...
>>
>> Thank God. The less blue oval I see under the hood of a Mazda, the
>> better. Those idiots couldn't engineer their way out of a wet paper
>> bag.
>>
>> Chris
>>
>>
>> Maybe we should call this 'Chris's Miata Newsgroup' lol!
>>
>> Chris
>> 99BBB

Umm, everyone here realize that (part) ownership does not have to have
a one-to-one correlation to sharing technologies or sharing facilites
or sharing parts bins?

In other words, Ford owning 3.5% of Mazda does not mean 3.5% of your
MX-5 is made by Ford. This is something for the accountants and
investors to worry about, more than the car buyer.

cheers

Don

In article om>, Don Q
wrote:

> In other words, Ford owning 3.5% of Mazda does not mean 3.5% of your
> MX-5 is made by Ford.

Right. The Ford content of Mazdas (and the Mazda content of Fords) won't
be altered by this change in stock position. Both companies still
benefit from shared technology and economies of scale. Ford simply needs
the cash right now--it avoided bail-out, but at the cost of a huge debt
load.

From what I can see, Ford's investment saved Mazda from collapse after
its significant blunders (RX-7, Millenia, etc.). Mazda's engineering
turned around Ford's death spiral of quality and imagination. The Fusion
hybrid is a very impressive vehicle, if you like that sort of thing. So
is the new Mustang.

--
Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, MO
'94C

On Nov 25, 8:02*am, "SilverB" > wrote:
> I'm with you Chris. *After being burned by "Ford Quality" twice (shame on
> me) in the 80s, I'll never buy another one. *They may indeed be better now,
> probably are, but twice burnt is enough for me. * *0% stake would be a
> better level.
>

I watched my folks go through two Tauruses and in the really early
80's, a Chevy Citation; all three were just utter garbage.

I've never bought or owned a domestically engineered/manufactured car
and I'm pretty sure I never will. :-)

Chris

In article
>,
Hal > wrote:

> I watched my folks go through two Tauruses and in the really early
> 80's, a Chevy Citation; all three were just utter garbage.
>
> I've never bought or owned a domestically engineered/manufactured car
> and I'm pretty sure I never will. :-)

I had a 1968 Mustang. I thought it was reliable...but then the only cars
I'd owned previously had been a Jaguar and an MG.

In 80k miles, that 6-cylinder Mustang only went through one clutch and
two sets of spider gears. Oh, and it had begun using oil. Considering it
was my autocross car and not very close to stock, that probably wasn't
too shabby for the late '60s.

The '71 240Z that replaced the Mustang was certainly fun, but it wasn't
any more reliable. A U-joint failed every couple of months like
clockwork (there were six of them), by 50k the driveline lash was really
annoying, it was using oil by 70k, plus it was the poster child for
fender rust.

Other highlights for my well-maintained cars: Toyota Hilux, blew head
gasket. Honda Accord, wiring harness shorted and fried from road salt.
Other Accord, blew head gasket. Mazda GLC, broken spring, rod knock (at
178K miles); departed with its original clutch though.

So far, the Miata is all original at 145k except for some upgrades, and
the 3 has been trouble-free.

--
Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, MO
'94C

On Dec 4, 6:28*pm, Hal > wrote:
> On Nov 25, 8:02*am, "SilverB" > wrote:
>
> > I'm with you Chris. *After being burned by "Ford Quality" twice (shame on
> > me) in the 80s, I'll never buy another one. *They may indeed be better now,
> > probably are, but twice burnt is enough for me. * *0% stake would be a
> > better level.
>
> I watched my folks go through two Tauruses and in the really early
> 80's, a Chevy Citation; all three were just utter garbage.
>
> I've never bought or owned a domestically engineered/manufactured car
> and I'm pretty sure I never will. :-)

Of course, if Americans had reacted this way to Japanese quality of
the 60's, they never would have bought Japanese vehicles in the 80's,
right?

U.S. domestic auto industry quality improvements have been both faster
and more complete than the journey that the Japanese underwent in the
1960's, but while that process seemed to be hailed as nothing short of
miraculous by American consumers, the even more dramatic improvements
by the domestics are barely even grudgingly acknowledged. At least,
that is the overwhelming impression I get from talking to folks about
cars.

The Ford Fusion has a better three-year quality record according to (I
think) Consumer's Union than either the Accord or the Camry, but that
doesn't seem to create any kind of splash in the U.S. media.

Since I had a zero-defect, first-year, 1988 Chevy Beretta GT (bought
new), a zero-defect, long-term family car in a 1987 Ford Taurus
station wagon, my two boys owned and handed down a 1988 Ford
Thunderbird that went almost 200,000 miles (I did have to put in a
rebuilt engine after the older son drove the car without coolant until
it warped the cylinder heads while he was in college) and my daughter
gave her virtually trouble-free 2000 Ford Taurus (145k miles to date)
to my middle son when she got her used Cadillac CTS-V two years ago,
and I have owned five completely trouble-free Chevy and GM 1500 and
2500 pick-up trucks over the past 15 years, I think I'll just continue
to buy the vehicle that suits my needs, choosing American as often as
possible and settling for another country of origin when I have no
choice, such as when I need another Miata.

My Miatas (three in the family to date) have been trouble-free, but no
more or less so than any of the domestic vehicles I have had.

Hell, my mom had a 1980 Dodge Omni, one of the most villified
domestics in history, and it was just as reliable and almost as
economical as my 1980 Plymouth Champ (a badge-engineered Mitsubishi)
even though it was ugly as sin and no fun to drive. And it had an
AUTOMATIC transaxle, to boot.

A good friend has a Chrysler T&C "mini"van with just under 300,000
miles on it that is is ONLY transportation. In fairness to the
detractors of domestic vehicles, he did have to have the transmission
rebuilt at 270k miles this past summer.

Ah well, I know these anecdotal references do no good, even though in
my recollection of the 70's and 80's it was anecdotal references from
consumer to consumer that pushed Honda and Toyota to their positions
of preeminence in the U.S. auto market in the first place.