Wednesday, January 25, 2006

More On Ford

Reason Express has a great, short bit on Ford's troubles, which come down to two things:
  1. Aside from losing surplus production capacity, get rid of the minivan, which is losing money.
  2. If that causes the dealers to complain, cut 'em loose and work with Wal-Mart.
Now, having been in the car business for a time (in an ancilliary way), I can attest that the states have laws that, if most car buyers knew about them, would make them riot; the car dealers have anti-competition laws in most states that prohibit the siting of new dealerships in places where the existing dealerships don't want them. This started as a way to prevent the manufacturers from opening competing dealerships near trouble franchises, but that kind of nonsense is just the beginning. Wal-Mart isn't getting into the retail car dealership business anytime soon, but if it could be accomplished, it would be a huge boon for car buyers everywhere.