In his latest Forbes column, Jerry Flint writes of General Motors (GM/NYSE) and Ford getting out of the minivan business. He notes this news is unofficial -- though he has no doubts the news is true.
He reaches this conclusion:
Yes, this is sad, but as the saying goes: “He who runs away, lives to fight another day.” Ford and GM do not have much choice. They must adjust the lines. The only question is: Where will GM and Ford stand up and fight?
I didn't know that GM and F even made minivans ... and apparently, most of the car-buying public doesn't know it, either ...
Posted by: Bill a.k.a. NO DooDahs! | December 14, 2006 at 06:58 PM
Bill: Great point, which makes getting out of the business even more likely.
Posted by: John | December 14, 2006 at 11:16 PM
The first mini-vans offered by Ford and GM showed their "van" bias -- remember the Aerostar and the Astro? The first Chrysler mini-van was the brainchild of Hal Sperlich, who brought the idea with him to Chrysler after Ford rejected both the idea and his flamboyant personality.
But for awhile, Ford had two competitive entries -- the Villager and the Windstar. The Villager was the smaller and higher end vehicle -- the Windstar was a little bigger and priced much closer to the value end Chrysler product. In their best year the two together sold around 400,000 units.
But the Villager had margin problems related to the JV deal with Nissan... and Ford couldn't seem to keep the Windstar/Freestar price competitive either. So the volume goes down and the vehicle dies -- it's a volume business.
Posted by: Paul Meisel | December 16, 2006 at 12:29 AM