Shocker: Ford, Which Didn’t Take A Bailout, Is Eating Into GM And Chrysler’s Market Share

When the auto bailouts were happening, Ford took a stand and turned down the offer of any government “loans.” Though it’s kind of hard to call the bailouts “loan” given that in Chrysler and GM’s cases they’re ending with the government and Obama’s buddies at the UAW owning the companies.
Regardless, Ford turned down the offered money:

DEARBORN, Mich. — By shunning government loans, Ford Motor Co.’s top executives say they hope to buff up the automaker’s image and set it apart from its cash-starved Detroit competitors, General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC.
GM and Chrysler are in desperate need of government money and may not last until the end of the year without it. But Ford set up $23.5 billion worth of credit in 2006, and both Chief Executive Alan Mulally and Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. told The Associated Press on Tuesday they are confident that the borrowing, coupled with restructuring and new product plans, will get them through the recession without relying on the government.

So Ford set out to stand on its own two feet and fix its problems by itself. And how’s that working out? Pretty good, according to this AP article:

DETROIT — Detroit’s Big Three is becoming Ford (F) and the other two.
While its rivals stay afloat with billions in government aid, Ford grabbed a bigger slice of the American car market in April with record sales of its fuel-efficient Fusion. Those results pushed it past Toyota to retake its post as the nation’s No. 2 car seller.
Even though Ford’s monthly sales tumbled 32% from a year earlier, it captured 16% of the total market. Most of those gains came at the expense of General Motors (GM) and Chrysler, which unlike Ford are dependent on federal help.
Overall U.S. auto sales reported Friday fell 34% from a year earlier. Automakers sold about 820,000 light vehicles in April, about 38,000 fewer than in March but still a big improvement over January’s 27-year low.

If Ford can fix itself, why couldn’t Chrysler and General Motors? Those companies were fools to throw themselves upon the mercy of the federal government, because look at where it has gotten them. The government and the United Auto Workers now own the company.
I fully expect Ford’s market share to continue to increase, because there is no way in the world General Motors and Chrysler are going to be the sort of agile and efficient companies they need to be under government/union management. Because while Obama and his union friends may be nationalizing these companies, American shoppers are still free to buy whatever kind of cars they want from whatever company they want. The only possible fly in the ointment for Ford is if the government begins pulling regulatory strings to push the auto market towards the sort of cars being made at the government-run auto companies.
Which is exactly the sort of conflict of interest that crops up when we allow the government to get a stake in the private sector. Once the government and the unions start running GM and Chrysler even further into the ground, there is going to be enormous pressure to pass regulations that help prop those companies up. And why wouldn’t the government do it for the sake of its own companies?