[Drivesthebeast]

Companies like Ford are always going to be concered with the bottom line at the moment, not longterm. They don't seem to take risks.

Companies like Honda and Toyota build "Niche" vehicles that perhaps don't sell so well, but they DO get the longterm enthusiast or fanbase, and build a reputation for those Niche Vehicles. The vehicles gain popularity by word of mouth advertising, etc. Take for example the Civic in the 1980's...the normal civics were deemed peices of junk, but the CRX and Si versions kept people interested. They had a huge following, and because Honda gave the customers what they wanted then, they have infused similar build and design features/characteristics of the original CRX and Si's into ALL of the Civic models. By building small numbers of what people wanted first, and get a good rep for them, they were able to sell a lot more of them LATER on.

So what I mean is, Ford and GM needs to sell the hi-po cars again, and more often, but they also need to sell them for less profit NOW, so that they can regain it or improve on it over the LONGTERM.

I apologize for saying this (FOMOCO employees on here...), but the "Beancounting" has to stop.

Refference the automakers failing at participating in the Sport compact revolution? I don't think so. They did the SAME thing with muscle cars in the 60's and 70's....some were hits, lots were misses. The SRT's, Cobalt SS, etc...are all great attempts at building the public what THEY want, not what the company wants.

Does any of this make sense to anyone? Looking at the big picture...