Ford Recalls Continue to Cripple Brand

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Ford (NYSE: F) recalls this year have topped 1.2 million vehicles. While its poor 2006 track record is not nearly as bad as last year’s, the company’s quality promise has fallen apart again. And, while moves into battery technology have lifted the stock, there is reason for investors to be worried. Ford can’t get its core business right, even after decades as one of the world’s largest car companies.

One of the worst recalls, from the standpoint of how poorly Ford manages repairs for its broken cars, concerns 255,404 Ford Focus models from the 2012-2018 model years. TFLcar reports “Ford Recalls More Than 250,000 Focus Models Because the First Fix Didn’t Solve the Issue.”

Ford also recalled over 548,000 Expedition SUVs because of chrome trim on the center console. It can bubble and peel. This can cause hazardous sharp edges, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Ford’s move into what it calls “Ford Energy,” which supplies large-scale battery storage systems for data centers and the electric grid, is viewed as nothing short of genius. And the market rewarded Ford’s diversification, but only briefly. Ford’s stock is up a little less than the S&P 500

Ford’s very long-term prospects remain grim, given how the stock has traded over the last five years. It is down 9% over that period. The S&P is 72% higher in the same period. GM is up 30%.

It is impossible not to argue that almost every company should be judged by how well it does what it is supposed to do. That is, whether it can run its core business (s), Ford’s quality improvement promises are legion, as are the failures of these promises

Why is quality such a difficult problem for Ford to fix? All such problems are the responsibility of senior management. It has undermined one of the world’s best-known brands.

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