Ford Competitors Analysis - Case Study Example

Ford Competitors Analysis The main Ford competitor companies include Toyota Motor Corporation, Chrysler Group, and General Motors Company (Hoffman, 2012). Ford faces stiff competition from other automobile companies as a result of some of its production and managerial strategies. Chrysler is more focused on producing sports and prestigious cars, which is their specialty (Clark, 2012). General Motors and Toyota focus on producing general vehicles, which are suitable for a global market. However, Ford Motors does not focus on a certain line of production, giving its competitors an advantage.

Toyota is the main competitor and specializes in making simple but reliable cars. The latter also has a wider global market as compared to Ford, which mainly operates in six continents. However, Ford Company has a credit company that aims at giving financial services hence diversifying its operation. The company’s financial services earn more income as compared to the ones by Toyota. In vehicle production, Ford has an advantage over Toyota in production of smart and electric cars (Edmonston, 2012).

Ford operations have been restricted due to the government’s stringent penalties on emission standards. Toyota and general Motors have invested heavily in waste containment and hence they are able to produce more. This also gives them easier access to government funding and subsidization on raw materials. Ford has been investing in production of smart cars including Lincoln and Ford cars, which are fairly new to global market. This has led to production of excess capacity as compared to Toyota and Honda that mostly has a ready market.

Ford has produced Fiesta, which is a smart car that is developed using Ford SYNC technology. However, Chrysler has also been actively involved in use of R&D capabilities to produce Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 (Vlasic, 2012). The latter models compete with Lincoln and Ford cars with the new Chrysler Dodge Dart competing with EcoSport in capabilities and fuel efficiency. Chrysler is known to produce quality sports cars, which is a setback for EcoSport (Crisp, 2012). General Motors is also involved in production of mini and electric cars also using R&D capabilities to supply its large global market position.

Disparate with Ford, Toyota, and Chrysler, General Motors has a range of hybrid electric cars developed using multiple technologies. Its Opel Ampera and Chevrolet Volt are the main competitors for Lincoln and Ford cars (Vlasic, 2012). However, it is the Chevrolet Spark that competes accordingly with Ford’s Mondeo in capabilities and automation. However, Chevrolet Spark is better and preferred by users because it has an electric battery (Erjavec, 2013).As part of Ford’s strategy to increase its market share, the company has used a centralized decision making approach.

The strategy allows for low production costs using online manufacturing that allows cars to be developed in one process (Dess, 2012). In most competitor companies, production is done by using different segments for production and engineering. As a result, much of the company’s efforts are aimed at production of smart cars that are affordable and maintain traditional Ford features. The smart cars are many customers choice especially following high energy prices in the developing world. Ford Motors should plan on introducing world cars, which can be used globally with only few modifications (Hoffman, 2012).

This makes it have more standardized cars than its competitors. This will give them a competitive edge especially to General Motors that has a wide global market. Ford Company introduced a new perspective to technology that was already in use by its competitors. The technology involves the use of Ford SYNC, a technology gadget that enables the driver to connect with the automobile. The company should hence incorporate the technology with R&D capabilities to beat competition (Jacobus, 2012). ReferencesClark, J. (2012). Mondo Agnelli Fiat, Chrysler, and the power of a dynasty.

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