FORTUNE -- General Motors and Chrysler are beginning to produce some headway following acquiring a financial and operational overhaul compliments of your U.S. bankruptcy court. But Frd, operating totally free of interference by the court or the federal government is moving even faster and is starting to place real distance involving itself and its two domestic rivals.
Ford's U.S. sales in September rose 40% over a year in the past, and it has gained retail market place share in 23 of the last 24 months. By comparison, GM's sales rose 11% last month.
Meanwhile, Ford (F, Fortune 500) stock, which dipped below $3 per share two years back, has risen to close to $13. Earlier this week, Morgan Stanley initiated Frd coverage with a target value of $20.
Wrote analyst Adam Jones: "Our forecasts give Frd credit for a transformational turnaround yielding performance far exceeding its own historical averages and places the corporation among a select group of worldwide automotive firms. "
The momentum is likely to continue. Soon after a slow start, Ford is start to take the wraps off a program to electrify its automobile fleet. By 2015, it expects that 2% to 5% of its worldwide car fleet will likely be standard gas-electric hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and all-electric battery-powered autos. In the 12 months 2020, Frd expects the share to jump to between 10% and 25%.
Ford outlined its alternative fuel method nearly two many years back and is now in a position to show some tangible outcomes. It brought many its battery vehicles to New York for check drives this week.
Initial to the marketplace, it can be launching a small battery driven van, the Transit Connect in 2010. Such cars are considered an ideal battery application since they tend to operate in fleets, simplifying demands for charging infrastructure, and they follow predetermined routes, reducing the incidence of vary anxiety.
Next 12 months comes the auto that probably will be the centerpiece of Ford's EV efforts, at least in the short term: the battery-powered Focus. Frd is promising a variety of 100 miles per charge, which will make it directly competitive with the Nissan Leaf. Ford plans to sell 15,000 to 20,000 Focuses a yr.
A test mule provided for journalists neither contained the elaborate instruments that battery cars seem to demand, nor tested the promised range. But it started efficiently, ran quietly, accelerated smoothly and successfully dodged as a result of New York City visitors in a lap around Ford's West Side dealership.
The Concentrate exemplifies Ford's common-sense, spread-the-overhead approach to battery-powered vehicles. Rather than go via the expense of developing dedicated electric automobile models like the Leaf, it's adding electric powertrains to its conventional models to be able to maximize economies of scale. That risks dampening consumer appeal, nonetheless it really should pay off in sharply lower costs.
Frd is also discovering surprising efficiencies on the technology. Its plug-in hybrid due in 2011 will get 30 miles to a charge. That implies quite a few owners will probably be able to travel back and forth to work on electrical power alone and still have the secure back up of an efficient gasoline engine.
For its next-generation hybrids, Frd is making a risky move. The hybrid Lincoln MKZ coming in 2011 might be sold at the same cost because the typical gasoline-powered 1. Since hybrids usually command a $3,000 premium that suggests that Ford has 1) made a breakthrough on cost, or 2) is willing to eat the additional expense in return for much more industry share.
Ford's determination to do the intelligent factor rather than the well-liked issue, an ethos driven by CEO Alan Mulally, is starting to permeate the entire organization. A Morgan Stanley report shows a business that has been stripped down and speeded up:
As recently as 2006, Ford was producing 97 diverse nameplates on 27 separate platforms. Immediately after Mercury is put to sleep, it will have just 32 nameplates riding on 15 platforms.
That kind of simplicity pays off in efficiency. Morgan Stanley estimates that the carmaker will generate $682,000 in revenue from each worker, vs. $542,000 in 2006. Writes analyst Adam Jones: "The Ford of 2010 is hardly recognizable vs. the Ford of just a couple of decades ago."
Great issue, since America's automobiles may be hardly recognizable in a handful of years, either. Final week, the Obama administration proposed increasing fuel efficiency requirements by 3% to 6% annually from 2017 to 2025.
That signifies that in 15 a long time, the government will insist that automobiles get amongst 47 miles per gallon to 62 miles per gallon. The traditional American V-8 engine will be dead as a dodo by then, and also the V-6 may perhaps be too.
Ford has read the tea leaves and is attempting to get ready. Its technique of leveraging its international platforms by electrifying existing model lines looks intelligent as the use of gasoline-powered automobiles declines.
Battery-powered autos the size of your compact Concentrate may perhaps turn out to be the new regular -- and Frd will have the production volume to generate them affordable
没有评论:
发表评论