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Comment by twblalock | Hacker News Reader

To some extent, the outgoing CEO is taking the fall for a nationwide slump in auto sales, which affects all auto companies.

I think this change is mainly window dressing: the outgoing CEO was committed to self-driving car research, as is the new guy. The fundamentals of the company are unlikely to change.

I suspect that the stock would go up in the short term if Ford started putting more money into SUVs and crossovers, at the expense of the company's long-term success. If Ford's investors believe that self-driving cars (or at least, semi-autonomous cars) are the future, they should be willing to put up with a low stock price over the next few years.

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why does everyone keep saying car sales are in a "slump". Sales are off only about 5% compared to last year, which was the highest annual sales in history. This year's new car sales are still incredibly high compared to the average yearly sales from the last 10 years.

Overall car sales have hit a plateau, you can't expect it to keep breaking records year after year, which it has done since 2009.

SUVs and trucks are still in high demand, it's sedans that have taken the biggest hit.

Ford is losing share – always a scary thing but especially bad in a falling market.

IME, the only way a Board can live with falling market share is if they believe the CEO/company is poised with some "secret weapon" bringing new competitive advantage soon.

Evidently, secret weapons are in short supply in Dearborn.

GM's sales have gone up over the past few years, their share price has been pretty steady, and they're long term strategy for electric, shared, and autonomous is looking gangbusters. Ford not so much.

GM's sales are down this year, as are Ford's.

The GM share price is not steady either -- it has dropped nearly 15% from its value in March, and about 6% from it's value on January 1st.

if Ford's investors believe that the company will be worth more in the future, then that should be reflected in the current price.

The Ford family controls the stock with its supervoting shares. Their opinions are what matter.

Otherwise, I agree with your comment.

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