I’m the same way, I’m not brand loyal.  I choose the best option (that I can afford) in whatever category I shopping for at the time.  If Ford doesn’t offer what I want, I will gladly pass them by and go to who does offer it.  I’m not “settling” for an Escape because Ford won’t build a Focus ST anymore.

“And it’s entirely possible that their previous car buyers could end up at another brand that does offer something closer to what they bought previously from Ford (like my mother-in-law who had a Taurus for several years but most recently traded it for a Kia sedan).”

“What about drivers of the Ford Fiesta,Focus,and Fusion?”

Indeed. The Ford Focus you buy today is basically the same car as a 2012 Ford Focus. Oy. Tesla it taking the opposite tactic. They are constantly making their cars better. Whether it’s incremental improvements in production, or via software for existing cars.

Yup and when gas gets near $5 a gallon, they will all be clamoring to make small fuel efficient sedans again... rinse, repeat.  

You’re on to something. Ford has a perplexing habit of introducing something really promising and competitive (like the Fusion redesign in 2013) only to let it sit on the market without serious investment for years in a fiercely competitive market. Then they wonder at the need for incentives and…

Not the point. Sedans are still 30% of the car market in the US. Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, even Volkswagen are seeing some declines, yes, in favor of CUVs, but their sales numbers in the sedan, hatch, and small car segment are still pretty huge.

The idea that they think people are just going to switch to other Ford products rather than shop around is fucking bonkers to me.

The first sentence of the second paragraph starts with a notification about how the global market for cars is soft - a worrying leading indicator of a likely recession - and then we are left to ponder Ford’s strategy of relying on vehicles which are by nature more costly, both to purchase (if admittedly more…

I am SO GODDAMN OUTRAGED that I basically agree with most of this and don’t have a chance to write a sarcastic spittle-flecked list of all my problems with it.

Remember when things were fun? Like...people had fun, and did fun things, and we all laughed and said, ‘hey, that was fun’? Did I dream all that up? Or was there actually a fun time, before this time, which is decidedly un-fun?

Are we so soft skinned that there needs to be a public apology for these? They are just little inside jokes between the development team. So what? Did it hurt anyone, did it cause a loss of life or irreputable harm to someone? No? Then just move on with your life, lets not have to make every single thing some public…

Im not even sure Musk knows where Musk’s focus is.

Maybe it sold at six-times the rate, because the Standard wasn’t ever really available?

Tesla: “We’re closing our dealers. We’re going 100% online, because modern electric rocket company.”

I’ve learned that there’s a wide disparity in the meaning of the words “graphic video.”  For anyone who hasn’t watched yet, this is towards the “I can’t eat lunch now” end of the spectrum.  How awful.  

Jason, I’ve been a developer on more than one of these types of monolithic ambitious-but-aimless projects that eventually lurches over the finish line (late). You’ve gone through months (or years) of very real suffering to get it to that point, and when it arrives, you’re embarrassed at what’s been put out. It’s…

I’ve been waiting for the Schreier breakdown of how this fell apart far more than the game itself.

Victim blaming bullshit.

It’s like a group of prisoners making fun of a guy for being in jail