MustangWorks.com : Ford Forums - View Single Post - What do you think will happen to cars in the future

Mr 5 0 · 05-15-2002, 03:43 PM

Cars have been optioned out to the max over the past ten years to help justify the rising prices as well as making factory assembly easier.

Now, unless it's a bottom-of-the-line stripper model, it's hard to buy a car without A/C, power everything and a host of comfort and convenience items that once were 'optional at extra cost'.

Some other choices have been cut way down. You either get a charcoal or a beige interior on most cars - no other choices. This stinks.

If that story about Ford making it a goal to cut $700. in 'do-dads' (old-fashioned name for unnecessary but attractive parts) then I bet we'll be seeing things like tinted glass become an 'extra-cost option' again and A/C and other comfort items will be part of an expensive, overpriced 'package' that Ford will use to make that extra $700. profit if it has to add extras to the car.

I can easily see dead pedals, a cup holder or two, ashtrays and grab handles as well as storage pockets on seatbacks all being eliminated or listed as 'available at extra cost' as most of these things once were.

The new CEO, William Clay Ford, is a bit of an unknown right now but with 2 billion in losses from the Firestone tire debacle and Ford stock in the mid-teens, I can see cost-cutting on the horizon for Ford. Makes sense.

05-15-2002, 03:43 PM	#7
Mr 5 0 Conservative Individualist Join Date: May 1997 Location: Wherever I need to be Posts: 7,487	Do-dads Cars have been optioned out to the max over the past ten years to help justify the rising prices as well as making factory assembly easier. Now, unless it's a bottom-of-the-line stripper model, it's hard to buy a car without A/C, power everything and a host of comfort and convenience items that once were 'optional at extra cost'. Some other choices have been cut way down. You either get a charcoal or a beige interior on most cars - no other choices. This stinks. If that story about Ford making it a goal to cut $700. in 'do-dads' (old-fashioned name for unnecessary but attractive parts) then I bet we'll be seeing things like tinted glass become an 'extra-cost option' again and A/C and other comfort items will be part of an expensive, overpriced 'package' that Ford will use to make that extra $700. profit if it has to add extras to the car. I can easily see dead pedals, a cup holder or two, ashtrays and grab handles as well as storage pockets on seatbacks all being eliminated or listed as 'available at extra cost' as most of these things once were. The new CEO, William Clay Ford, is a bit of an unknown right now but with 2 billion in losses from the Firestone tire debacle and Ford stock in the mid-teens, I can see cost-cutting on the horizon for Ford. Makes sense.