Suggestions to the Ford Motor Company

Free of charge!

Now that you are down in the dumps, this is a good time to completely rethink your whole philosophy about making cars. It was your forbear who started us down this long and bumpy road. I wonder what he would say if he were here to see the worldwide results.

Let’s start with the easy part. What is your very first objective? If it’s just to make money, there’s not much I can do for you, so we could end it right here.

Second chance: It is the automobile which has done the most harm to the earth, so why not start thinking about how you can ameliorate that situation. Do you go to church? Do you have values? Do you worry about the future for everybody and everything on the planet?

OK!! I have some suggestions which might help the earth and its inhabitants, and pay off for you in the bargain. Let’s start thinking about the kind of people you want as customers in the future and what kind of cars you should make for them.

Let’s get daring. Let’s decide that you want to care more for the environment than you do for selling cars to people who are obsessed with themselves. How about some requirements?

• Well-made and sturdy. I’ll go for that.
• Comfortable. That’s important.
• Energy efficient, especially hybrids or even better. Now we’re cooking.
• Large, super-sized cars. Let somebody else go down that road.
• Luxurious, as was mentioned by one of your spokesmen just last week. Not my kind of people. Let’s get serious.
• How about taking requirements 1 through 3 and building from there? Let the world know you are thinking in a different direction with a new-world last-chance philosophy?
• And finally, appearance and names. Smallish, but adequate, that speak to people about the world we need to live in. As for names, you should look for those which reflect your new outlook, which people look at and say cute, kinky, far-out, interesting, different, adorable, etc, etc., etc. – choose your own.
• Afforable. Do the best you can with that. Let the public know you’re thinking more of their needs than of your own.

Let the people who want luxury and/or huge cars know you’re not interested anymore. If you concentrate on new values and customers you’ve never seen before, you might find a whole new market that you didn’t know was out there.

No charge. Good luck. It’s sure worth a try.