Ford's Recent Downsizing Was "Dramatic"

Ford Downsizing Cuts Deeply Into Design, Engineering Units - WSJ.com

The chief designer of your latest product: gone. An employee walked out of the building by security guards. Nobody said it was going to be a rose garden. That was apparently the scene when Ford went through its latest round of cuts according to the WSJ. Amazingly about half of the company's design modelers and 75 percent of the folks who scan clay models lost their jobs.

Given Ford's decision to import many of its European products, does this mean a shift of power to the company's European design studios? As I've mentioned before, it's very difficult to find an unappealing vehicle in Ford's European lineup. The latest generation of vehicles is simply fantastic and when viewed as a whole, I would have to give Ford of Europe the title "best looking lineup" of reasonably priced cars. That's pretty high praise, but I think it's well deserved.

When you look to our side of the Atlantic, the pickings are much slimmer. The Mustang certainly hasn't looked this good in years, the F-150 is always a winner and I happen to like the new Flex. However, the remaining models are so-so at best. The Fusion isn't an unattractive car, but if you were to park it next to a Mondeo there is no competition.

It sounds like the latest round of cuts were pretty gut wrenching. It's tough watching people get voted off "So You Think You Can Dance" let alone losing their livelihood. I never like to hear of any hard worker losing his or her job and I just want to wish all of those folks who did get their walking papers the best of luck and a speedy job search.