Tick Tock Mr. Farley, Tick Tock.

[DBPNW]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-fourth-quarter-earnings-february-2-2023-145214798.html

It takes special skills to pull this off in 2022. Hopefully, the distance between Farley and the door just got quite a bit shorter.

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[SuperRob]

Kind of a mean-spirited thing to say in a fan forum, man.

Revenue was $4B HIGHER than projected. They should have pocketed half that, but didn't. Farley knows where the issue is and they're making the corrections. Honestly, the only real issue is that investors don't like surprises. CEOs live and die on their forecasts, and they missed. But Farley said all the right things, and the big thing is that if they can squeeze out the profitability they missed, they'll be on the right track.

 

[AlanJ]

Kind of a mean-spirited thing to say in a fan forum, man.

Revenue was $4B HIGHER than projected. They should have pocketed half that, but didn't. Farley knows where the issue is and they're making the corrections. Honestly, the only real issue is that investors don't like surprises. CEOs live and die on their forecasts, and they missed. But Farley said all the right things, and the big thing is that if they can squeeze out the profitability they missed, they'll be on the right track.

Completely agree, this isn't an issue of sales being down. They are moving vehicles just fine. It's getting the profit out of each one that is the struggle. I'm sure there are operational challenges that are costing money and once they are solved, they will do alright.

 

[DBPNW]

They are moving vehicles just fine. It's getting the profit out of each one that is the struggle.

This is AWESOME. I am so sharing this with my sales team. Thanks Alan.

 

[DBPNW]

Kind of a mean-spirited thing to say in a fan forum, man.

Revenue was $4B HIGHER than projected. They should have pocketed half that, but didn't. Farley knows where the issue is and they're making the corrections. Honestly, the only real issue is that investors don't like surprises. CEOs live and die on their forecasts, and they missed. But Farley said all the right things, and the big thing is that if they can squeeze out the profitability they missed, they'll be on the right track.

I appreciate your opinion. I am not the first to post something others perceive as negative and I won't be the last. It happens all the time. People post things I perceive as negative. Guess what, I deal with it and move on.

Additionally, this isn't a "fan" forum, it is an MME Forum. One only needs to read the threads to know that there are many people on this forum that are:
1) not a fan of the MME, and
2) not a fan of Ford Motor Company

As for me, I like our MME GT and I like Ford. I don't like Farley running Ford into the ground and will be happy when he is shown the door. I say this as a Fan of Ford and as a shareholder with a pretty good sized position in the company.

It is worth noting that Ford, under Farely has mucked up quite a bit. To call them missteps would be kind at the very least. I don't think that is in dispute by many who understand the business. For those outside looking in, these issues might seem minor, but they are not.

So, Tick Tock, tick tock.

 

[ChuckA]

I appreciate your opinion. I am not the first to post something others perceive as negative and I won't be the last. It happens all the time. People post things I perceive as negative. Guess what, I deal with it and move on.

Additionally, this isn't a "fan" forum, it is an MME Forum. One only needs to read the threads to know that there are many people on this forum that are:
1) not a fan of the MME, and
2) not a fan of Ford Motor Company

As for me, I like our MME GT and I like Ford. I don't like Farley running Ford into the ground and will be happy when he is shown the door. I say this as a Fan of Ford and as a shareholder with a pretty good sized position in the company.

It is worth noting that Ford, under Farely has mucked up quite a bit. To call them missteps would be kind at the very least. I don't think that is in dispute by many who understand the business. For those outside looking in, these issues might seem minor, but they are not.

So, Tick Tock, tick tock.

You are entitled to your opinion but I disagree about Farley’s job. I’m a stockholder and think Farley is doing a good job. It was a bad quarter but I’m not ready to say it’s fatal. I’m optimistic.

 

[Johnny572]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-fourth-quarter-earnings-february-2-2023-145214798.html

It takes special skills to pull this off in 2022. Hopefully, the distance between Farley and the door just got quite a bit shorter.

Farley turned this ship around…..he saved Ford. Did you get fired from Ford??? Why so salty?

 

[silverelan]

I appreciate your opinion. I am not the first to post something others perceive as negative and I won't be the last. It happens all the time. People post things I perceive as negative. Guess what, I deal with it and move on.

Additionally, this isn't a "fan" forum, it is an MME Forum. One only needs to read the threads to know that there are many people on this forum that are:
1) not a fan of the MME, and
2) not a fan of Ford Motor Company

As for me, I like our MME GT and I like Ford. I don't like Farley running Ford into the ground and will be happy when he is shown the door. I say this as a Fan of Ford and as a shareholder with a pretty good sized position in the company.

It is worth noting that Ford, under Farely has mucked up quite a bit. To call them missteps would be kind at the very least. I don't think that is in dispute by many who understand the business. For those outside looking in, these issues might seem minor, but they are not.

So, Tick Tock, tick tock.

As a fellow shareholder and MME GT owner, I’m genuinely curious as to why you hold your opinion. What do you think Farleys missteps are? What should he do better? What should he not do?

I’m personally of the opinion that Farley is generally leading Ford in the right direction but there’s some things on electrification that I think could be different/better (specifically with MME).

I think a major miss by Ford is not better supporting the growth of the CCS charging network. EA has proven to be a lousy charging partner and it bugs me that Ford is literally paying money to VW for the privilege of MME owners to suffer at broken chargers or wait behind an ID4 getting unlimited kWh. It would have been better for Ford to have paid cash to EVgo to rapidly rollout a nationwide CCS competitor instead.

 

[DBPNW]

You are entitled to your opinion but I disagree about Farley’s job. I’m a stockholder and think Farley is doing a good job. It was a bad quarter but I’m not ready to say it’s fatal. I’m optimistic.

An "opinion " would be saying someone is doing a "good job" even-though they performed poorly. It's an opinion, not a very good one, but an opinion nonetheless; of which you are entitled.

A fact would be saying someone is doing a "shitty job" when they performed poorly; something even Mr. Farley himself concedes.

You may like the man. I'm sure he is a decent dude. That said, he is ill equipped to manage a major OEM. He couldn't even manage Scion. That was a disaster. Jim's problem is that he thinks he knows consumers. I see him at Auto shows walking from competitor car to competitor car taking notes with an entourage following closely behind. It's all a big to do. But one has to wonder, who the frick is running the company if Jim's nose is stuck in product?

I remember a time when I was at the GO in dearborn. We did all sorts of focus groups on the next gen Ford Taurus. All the focus groups picked the less edgy, more camary esq design. Every damn one of them. But Bob Rewey wanted that damn jelly bean design. So, product scrapped the focus group pick, and went with Bob's design. Of course we all know the result, and unmitigated disaster. Dealers couldn't give them away. The taurus went from the top one or two spot to a subprime special.

Just like Bob, Jim thinks he is smarter than everyone else. Right now, there is an "EV" race. yep, everyone is running as fast as they can to win the race. The problem; no one knows where the finish line is! But that doesn't deter Jim, he is going to run as fast as he can in any direction as long as he is out front. What he doesn't get is that it doesn't matter if you are out front if you are running the wrong way...He should take a page from Akio Toyoda, Measured, reasoned, informed. Jim is a chicken with his head cutoff right now and the financial performance of the company proves it.

GM is doing stupid shit like building a Hummer that requires a battery pack big enough to power three telsas. Yet, they found a way to kill it in Q4. How can that be. They paid out dealer, they invested in EV infrastructure yet they printed cash.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/01/31/why-general-motors-stock-jumped-today/

Come on now, let's get real. Jim is probably micromanaging the janitor right now. He's not a leader, he's a manager. There's a difference.

 

[DBPNW]

Farley turned this ship around…..he saved Ford. Did you get fired from Ford??? Why so salty?

Huh? Farley took the reins in the most profitable time in Automotive history, the covid years where people were getting free money, OEMs were selling everything they could build with no carry cost, no inventory cost and NOT one frickin' incentive.

If you want to know who really saved Ford this time, it was that hack Hackett. He was the one that decided that ford needed to get out of the car business and only produce trucks, Suvs and of course the mustang. That action, plus the Covid supply chain issues that created a defacto BTO situation is why Farley looked so good. And he has now screwed that up. FACT.

He also had the additional advantage of following Hackett and Mark Fields. Boy, were they a couple of clowns. Let's face it, a blind monkey with a dart board could have knocked Q4 2022 out of the park Babe Ruth style. Which is why I said, "It takes special skills to pull this off in 2022" because you have to try to choke this bad.

It's not my fault, I am pointing out the obvious. I do love Ford, just ordered another Ford today, my 3rd in 9 months.

And no, I didn't get fired, but that is a very fair question (LOL), after being promoted to dearborn, I stayed a year and a half in that hell hole. One fine January, after the vortex at RCB blew me in from the parking lot with a windchill factor near zero, I'd had enough. Without forethought, I went up to my office and gave my two week notice. I left Michigan winters for good three weeks later an never looked back.

 

[All Hat No Cattle]

As for me, I like our MME GT and I like Ford. I don't like Farley running Ford into the ground and will be happy when he is shown the door. I say this as a Fan of Ford and as a shareholder with a pretty good sized position in the company.

OP, as a shareholder, would you happen to know if the quote below means that we get a regular dividend of $.15 a share and a supplemental dividend of $.65 per share, payable on March 1?
If I am understanding that correctly, I would receive a total of $6,940 on March 1st. I will be calling my broker tomorrow to check.

Accordingly, the company today declared a first-quarter regular dividend of 15 cents per share
and a supplemental dividend of 65 cents per share. In addition to strong cash flow, the
supplemental dividend reflects monetization of Ford’s stake in Rivian, which began last May and
now is nearly complete. The dividends are payable March 1 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Feb. 13

 

[DBPNW]

As a fellow shareholder and MME GT owner, I’m genuinely curious as to why you hold your opinion. What do you think Farleys missteps are? What should he do better? What should he not do?

I’m personally of the opinion that Farley is generally leading Ford in the right direction but there’s some things on electrification that I think could be different/better (specifically with MME).

I think a major miss by Ford is not better supporting the growth of the CCS charging network. EA has proven to be a lousy charging partner and it bugs me that Ford is literally paying money to VW for the privilege of MME owners to suffer at broken chargers or wait behind an ID4 getting unlimited kWh. It would have been better for Ford to have paid cash to EVgo to rapidly rollout a nationwide CCS competitor instead.

Jim has tunnel vision right now. All he can see is Elon Musk out in front. he doesn't know where Elon is going and doesn't care, he just knows that he has to be in front of him. Elon could be heading toward a pot of gold or a cliff, Jim is too consumed to care.

Jim got handed a gift. Hackett killed the unprofitable car lines and covid put an end to incentives, carry cost and parts inventory overages. The cost of building and selling Trucks and SUVs for OEMs went down significantly at a time when people's ability to buy the same increased significantly. Interest rates were so low, money might as well have been free. If you couldn't sell a car in the farley years, you couldn't sell a life jacket on the titanic.

Jim leaned into just in time parts supplies resulting in lost production to save a few bucks. He thinks BTO is going to be the way of the future and has alienated many of his dealers. Try to order a vehicle right now. I just bought a maverick hybrid that I ordered a while back. I sold it back to the dealer for $4000 more than I paid for it. Why, because Ford has mucked up the supply chain so bad that they can't supply dealers with inventory. That's on jim. Just in time inventory with full supplier dependency is a recipe for disaster. A faulty supply chain is why Ford can't bild the vehicles it has orders for.

The Lightning is a mess. Ford's cost structure for ER batteries is not sustainable. As a result, Ford has priced themselves out of the market. Once early adopters were exhausted in both the MME and lightning, you start to see vehicles stacking up on dealer lots. Not that no one wants them, it's that they are too much money. They are not recession proof vehicles. Everything sells when everyone has money at 1% and there is nothing else to buy. The avg loan rate for a new car is over 6% right now and in the double digits for used.

Akio Toyoda gets it. he has a measured approach. Working hard on new technology, but building shit he knows he has a customer for. So, they are going where the evidence points them, not where the government points them.

I enjoy our MME. But we use it as a grocery getter. We wouldn't take this to our lake house in Idaho. In the winter is gets about 200 miles on a charge. We just removed the 85% limit and charge it to 100% now to get more range. We are dumping in when our three years is up so what do we care.

You take a guy like Mulally. He lead. That guy didn't have his fingers in product. He just had a vision, and provided leadership to have his teams execute.

I'd like to see Farley succeed, but he just can't get out of his own way. And, if history is any judge, the Ford family always needs a fall guy. Traditionally, that fall guy is the CEO. In this case, it wouldn't be misguided in my opinion.

But what the hell do I know. Maybe he's figured out how to turn wheat into lithium and we'll see that announcement next week.

 

[DBPNW]

OP, as a shareholder, would you happen to know if the quote below means that we get a regular dividend of $.15 a share and a supplemental dividend of $.65 per share, payable on March 1?
If I am understanding that correctly, I would receive a total of $6,940 on March 1st. I will be calling my broker tomorrow to check.

yes, we are all loving our $0.60 a share div for the year. I'd rather see our share price over $14, but all my shares are in the $2.50 range give or take a few cents, so I guess.

The $0.65 is from the rivian stock sale. That was a board/Bill Ford decision, not a Farley decision.

But, it is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, I can tell you that much.

Hopefully, Ford stock will get back into the twenties. If that happens under JF, I will be more than happy to eat my words along with a big old humble pie. But, I doubt it.

 

[AlanJ]

This is AWESOME. I am so sharing this with my sales team. Thanks Alan.

haha, glad you liked it! I will just also add that sometimes profits aren't everything. Treating people right is paramount. That's really how you create repeat business and loyalty. Always protect the customer experience, and I think this is something Ford is working hard on improving. They just have an uphill battle due to dealerships and how the market functions overall.

 

[DBPNW]

haha, glad you liked it! I will just also add that sometimes profits aren't everything. Treating people right is paramount. That's really how you create repeat business and loyalty. Always protect the customer experience, and I think this is something Ford is working hard on improving. They just have an uphill battle due to dealerships and how the market functions overall.

Alan, thanks for the reply. I understand your POV. I agree, treating your customers right is paramount. I think Ford has failed miserably here. The quality of Ford vehicles is down, we can all agree on that. The recalls dominate Dealer service visits and even JF has said, it will "take years to fix!" No very inspiring.

I think Jim also has a knack for saying things to piss off the very people he needs to be successful. Examples"

Dealers: Jim has made numerous comments about limiting the dealers in the sale of the vehicle.

Employees: Jim has said "we need different employees" to be successful. Wow, talk about rallying the troops

Suppliers: Jim has said they need to bring things in house

Now I agree with some of the comments. Not the first one though. However, I would not be clueless as to announce these things in public. You still need your current employees and you still need your current suppliers to run the business until you have replaced them. What kind of motivation does these comments give employees and suppliers to do better?

Now on to the profit statement. This is just my experience talking here, I find a direct relationship between the most profitable companies and the best customer service. Now, one could argue that they have more money to hire more people and build better stuff, or one could argue that because they have more people and better stuff, they have more money. Which way you lean is not of consequence, they both serve the same master, which is profit. When you profit goes down, it either impacts your ability to provide great customer service, was a result of not providing it in the first place, or a combination thereof.

After Q4 2022 numbers, Farley said they may have to cut more staff. How will that impact quality, customer service, etc? People and process deliver on those important elements of the business. When you reduce headcount, you reduce the ability to serve either an internal or external customer. The result is a lower level of service almost every time.

I do agree that there are some bad apples out there in the dealer work. probably 20%, but that number seems like 80% due to the magnification effects on online forums. Spending cycles trying to undermine or eliminate dealers is poor form, and something that legally, is never going to happen. It's postering to try to extract something from the dealers with a threat that could never come to fruition. In my opinion, it is better to work with the dealer partners that work against them. Two engines pushing forward in the same direction instead of against each other. That mess is all on Farley. He has burns a lot of ground an used up a lot of goodwill with the retailers. When Ford has to go back to wholesaling to the dealers and push marketing, Farley will be trouble. Especially when they try to do it with the MME and Lightning.

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