The Economy

The base Mustang Mach E starts at $42k. The highest trim level GT starts at $60k. Really dumb to badge it as a Mustang. Should have just called it the Mach E, or made it look like a Mustang.

Porsche Cayenne is a great vehicle.

 

Ford stock has gone from 5 a share to 20 in the last 18 months or so. But it still sells for less than it did in the 1990's when it reached 37. The company has not been making a decent return on its investments for a long time.

Why is this? It is because Ford passenger cars are perceived as lower in quality than those of their competitors. Don't believe me? Go to Blue Book and see which cars retain more of their value after three, five or 10 years in the city where you live, Japanese or American. I guarantee the Japanese cars will have retained more value. And this is true around the world.

So Ford must sell their cars at lower effective prices than their competitors. This does not necessarily translate to lower sticker prices. Ford, and for that matter Chrysler and GM, will offer incentives to dealers to sell cars. These are bonuses the dealers can use to offer a lower price hen you haggle with the salesman. And Ford will spend more on marketing than a company like Honda. The American car manufactures are more likely to dump cars into the rental car and fleet markets.

So while Ford is saddled selling a lower priced product their costs are not sufficiently lower that their competitors to make a decent profit on cars. A strategy that does not work. So Ford has decided to focus on the products where they do make decent returns.

As a Ford stockholder I applaud this move. FWIW, I have purchased three Fords in the last 15 years.

 

I had three offers on my house in Charlotte last May before the showing went live. Two of which ultimately were withdrawn.

My agent said these opendoors and Zillows just come with boatloads of cash and screw things up for normal folks just looking for a home. It's tempting for a seller to go with the cash offer, knowing there will be no mortgage or appraisal hurdles to potentially sabotage things. One of the two highest offers we had was from opendoor. We sold to a real family, instead. Another family sent us a letter saying they hoped our house would be their "forever home." But their offer was $10,000 less, so . . .

I pray the market cools before we ultimately move back to NC or Tennessee. I love my current house but just don't care for Florida anymore.

 

A house around the corner sold during the blitz last spring for $200,000 over asking. The buyer from NYC didn't see it in person until inspection, and still hasn't moved in.

And to think, I once thought it ridiculous to buy clothes without trying them on.

 

Last year my daughter finally got rid of her 2007 Camry with 198K for a Honda Civic
This year my other daughter got rid of her 2006 Toyota Highlander with 212K for a Hyundai Tucson.
I got rid of my 2012 Honda Accord 158K and inherited my wife’s Lexus. I bought one American car in 38 years of buying a car. It was a mistake.

 

Had a Saturn, which I liked. Until the ignition malfunctioned -- a known defect -- and wouldn't release the key. At the pay lot. After work. At 11 pm.

On September 11, 2001.

 

Ford makes pretty good trucks and vans. At least I've had good luck with a couple.

But I got 23 years out of my last Toyota pickup. Including the 18 months it ran after being submerged to the center console in salt water by hurricane Sandy.

 

I don't think that Japanese auto engineers ever bought into that "planned obsolescence" nonsense. Do your routine maintenance, change the oil regularly, and the damn things run forever.

 

If it makes you feel any better, he probably called nearby junkyards till he found one, then sent a guy to pick it up. Mark it up 200%, stick it in there, "Pay me."

 

You probably bought your own mirror back.
That happened with catalytic converters in the city where I used to live. A guy had his ripped off over night. He went to the local garage to get it replaced. The garage just happened to have the right one. They discovered he bought his own part back. The garage owner had a side business of stealing them at night, reselling them in the morning.
In my current city, there has been a run of catalytic converter thefts. They passed a law that if you have a catalytic converter, it either has to be installed on your car or you have to have a receipt showing you bought it. There also is a program in which they are engraving ID numbers on catalytic converters so they can identify the rightful owners.