An open letter to Dearborn. (Dudder).

Dear Bill:

I haven't a lot of room here, so I'll have to be brief.

Times are bad, and Ford is in big trouble. The Australian bought just about every car maker GM hadn't tied up, or that wasn't part of the Daimler blitzkrieg-- with board approval, I might add. Now you're stuck with a bunch of high-line nameplates that need as many development dollars as your aging bread-and-butter vehicles, and that doesn't even begin to fill your volume needs. Yes, the profits may be there, but will that continue as everyone and his brother enters this market, or as nameplates like. Jaguar become less "premier"?

Speaking of Jaguar, its F1 team is sucking money out of the coffers with little to show, at a time when Mercedes- and BMW-powered cars are winning races. Why do you own the team? Supply engines and leave it at that. Also, X-Types are stylish Mondeos for roaming suburban cul de sacs, but its price is almost as ridiculous as the F1 effort.

Volvos... .What are Volvos anyway? The $60 looks cool, and the Cross Country appeals to the exurban gentry, but that's about it. It's Mercury with more of a product line. Again, you need to offer more content for the same money. The image-conscious '90s are over. Customers are also looking for value for the dollar.

Then you have Mazda, which has the Miata, RX-8 and new Mazda 6 to its credit, plus a decent--if uninspiring-- small SUV in the Tribute. (Note: Do something about the front seats in the Escape/Tribute. They're horrible!) Don't kill Mazda's spirit, but decide whether it's a volume player competing against you, or a maker of affordable sporty vehicles that grab a different demographic. Oh, and "Zoom, Zoom"? It Sucks, Sucks.

Aston Martin isn't Ferrari, no matter what Mr. Reitzle may think. I doubt it will add much to the bottom line, though I'm glad it's still alive. But if you wanted engineering savvy, you should have bought the company that engineered the Vanquish for you.

You have big quality problems, and with Land Rover you have even more, join it with Aston Martin and make them a showcase for Ford's suppliers. Make these two an incubator for new production and construction methods so you can get something of value from the purchase.

Next, if anyone talks about "American luxury" in your presence, hit them. Hard. It's a pejorative that means Americans don't understand luxury. I say the Europeans, with their growing layers of questionable technology, don't get it. America needs a sophisticated hot rod Lincoln, Bill, a truly handsome Town Car with an independent rear suspension and a torquey V10. The LS? It's nowhere near as good as it should be. Navigator is a follower,, not a leader, and a potential threat to the brand. Blackwood is a designer's conceit, not a vehicle. Kill it.

Ford is a truck division, and now the world has caught on and caught up. Friends who've been Ford buyers for life have deserted the company. "They don't build anything I want," they say, and I agree. Taurus is too big and fat, the Crown Victoria too old. The Mustang?' Cheap fun? Cheap thrills? Nope. Just cheap. And Focus needs to spawn a bigger brother and more variants.

Some of those variants should wear the Mercury badge, and have a higher trim level than you can get in a Ford, but lower than you'd find in a Lincoln. But Mercury, like the rest, shouldn't fill every gap. You only compete with yourself if you try, and the consumer gets confused.

And... I'm running out of room.