Just how bad a situation is Ford in? It was brought to my attention recently by a friend who was riding with me as we drove through the huge parking lot at Disneyland. His question was, "Why aren't there any Fords here? We like Fords in Mexico and you see a lot of them there." Obviously he is from Mexico and has recently arrived as a tourist. I thought that he was exaggerating, but really there were zero Fords to be seen. Nada. Zip.

Remember that we are in Los Angeles. Trends in automobiles start here -- both good and bad it seems. And if there aren't any Fords to be seen amidst a lot of cars in the lot, and many of them from out of state, it appears that Ford has a real problem. This also applies to Mercury and Lincoln vehicles. There weren't any of those either.

The Geneva Auto Show starts this week in Switzerland. What are the big debut cars for Ford there that will change their market in the United States? I don't know of one. Ford will "debut" the new Mondeo sedan there. Actually the car appeared in the latest James Bond movie, so it isn't really big news. The hatchback version has also been shown before. It is big news for Ford because while Ford is losing money like crazy in the United States, they are making a profit in Europe, a small profit, but nonetheless a profit. They even have the European car of the year in their sort-of-microvan, the S-Max. It won based on its spaciousness and versatility, plus good dynamics and driving fun.

Gee. What Ford meets that description here? None that I can think of. The Mustang has driving fun, but no spaciousness and versatility. The vehicles with spaciousness and versatility that Ford sells here have lost their driving fun a long time ago. Why is that? I sure don't know. If I go into a Ford dealership here, what is there for me to spend my money on?

The Crown Victoria comes to mind. You do see those on the streets of Los Angeles. The problem is that all of them have police logos on them, or are plain colors for unmarked police cars. This is an antique platform with rear drive, but there is a live axle back there, not independent suspension. It should compete with the Chrysler 300, but without that sophistication, it can't. Also it sure doesn't have the looks of the Chrysler either, though the rapper-look Chrysler is getting pretty old. The Crown Vic has very bland looks that haven't changed for years. I guess if you want something that will fade into the background, this is the car for your $28,000. I'd rather have a Dodge Charger, if I had to drive a domestic car.

Next up is the Five Hundred. At least this model from Ford has a state-of-the-art platform with your choice of front-drive or all-wheel-drive. Unfortunately that is the end of the good news about the Five Hundred. All the driving fun was filtered out in the design process. It doesn't have enough power either. The interior isn't bad, but certainly not up to Japanese standards. And the outside styling is, well, about as bland as it can get. This one is base-priced at $27,000 for the fanciest one with front-drive. All-wheel-drive is an additional $2000 which is a bargain. But there are an awful lot of other cars that offer a better driving experience for that price, though the Five Hundred really is big inside if that's important.

The Focus is Ford's economy car. It was restyled this year, but remains on the old platform. That platform is two new generations behind the one in Europe, where the new one is lauded for its virtues. If I were to buy a Focus, every time I got behind the wheel, I would have to consider why Ford didn't think I was important enough to give me the best they have. I know Ford would tell me that the new platform is too expensive to make for the U.S. market. But if it is really good, why don't they price it more than the competition? The Corolla certainly isn't a great car to drive, and a really good handling car would be something that the competition doesn't have -- except for Ford's own Mazda 3. As it is, the Focus is base-priced from $14,000 to $18,000, which puts it higher than the Korean competition that offers more standard equipment. Why buy a Focus?

The new Fusion is supposed to be Ford's new star. I just wonder exactly where the box-office appeal is. Motor Trend compared it to its competition, the Hyundai Santa Fe, Nissan Murano, and Toyota Highlander. They declined to rate them, so it certainly wasn't the best out there, and that's what Ford needs. It didn't have the best performance, though it was at the high end, and it isn't the biggest (inside or out), but it was the heaviest. It gets the worst EPA city mileage, and got the worst mileage of the test vehicles. That wouldn't put it on my list. You pay $18,000 to $24,000 to start out with for a Fusion. The Santa Fe is much less, but it is less refined.

The Mustang is a star for Ford, but a lot of that star quality comes from the fact that there really isn't any competition. One wonders what will happen when the Camaro and Challenger arrive. Both will have independent rear suspension, which the Mustang doesn't have. That makes them more expensive to manufacture, so prices to the buyer -- you -- should be higher. It seems to me that price is an important factor in this market, but then so is brand loyalty, if there is any left for Detroit products. The Mustang is an attractive product and even the interior isn't all that bad. There is quite good performance from the 6-cylinder model, and really good performance from the V-8, but that costs you when you write the check -- and fill up at the gas station. The V-6 Mustang starts at just under $20,000 and the V-8 tops out at $32,000 for the convertible. I'm not including the limited-production Shelby model that is over $40,000. That buys you serious performance.

The Edge is really being promoted these days by Ford. They are trying to tell you that this is the future of the family car. Maybe. You can get it in front-drive or all-wheel-drive. Again, it is not a great driver, something Ford should concentrate on. In this very crowded marketplace, though Ford claims that the Edge is unique, good handling would be a bonus. But then Ford's Mazda does have a good driver in their version of the Edge, the CX-7. Again, Ford makes this a pretty heavy car at over 4000 pounds, so gas mileage suffers as it is only available with a V-6. The front-driver is rated at 18/25 which isn't too bad, but the all-wheel-drive model is 17/24, which seems to be getting into the borderline area. The base prices for the Edge start out at $26,000 and end up over $31,000. That's rather expensive territory when you start adding on extras.

The Escape has been around for a long time, but has been refreshed this year. It is a "cute ute" with little to recommend it. The RAV4 and CR-V sell a lot more than the Escape, but of that bunch, only the Escape is available as a hybrid. Unfortunately for Escape owners, the EPA mileage wasn't enough for it to qualify for single people to drive in the carpool lanes. It is interesting that the hybrid is about the same price as the luxury V-6 Escape. It isn't a great drive, so it is like the rest of the domestic Fords.

The Explorer has been completely redesigned since it was originally introduced years ago and is now a very modern platform. Alas, the competition has introduced better driving and SUVs with much nicer interiors. Sales of Explorers have fallen precipitously. It really is a good truck-based SUV, but the market has mostly gone to car-based SUVs these days, so the Explorer suffers. I remember seeing lots of them running around in Los Angeles, but these days a new Explorer is a rare sight.

Ford's minivan, the Freestar, is still around, though it is on life support these days. I'm not sure who buys them because the Honda and Toyota are just so much better. Well, even the Dodge/Chrysler is a lot better. The real puzzle was when Ford introduced the Freestar to replace the Windstar, it was all new. And that "all new" product was decidedly inferior to the contemporary Odyssey and Sienna. How could Ford engineers develop a new minivan, knowing what the competition was, and have the result so inferior? GM has decided to quit this market and Ford is sure to follow. There just aren't all that many minivan customers anymore due to the fact that SUVs and SUV-like vehicles are out there that offer a much different image for the driver. And, at least in Los Angles, image means a lot.

The Freestyle was supposed to be another vehicle to save Ford, at least until the Fusion and Edge came long. Unfortunately it has been mostly a flop. It is good, but not great, so it doesn't attract many new customers to Ford. It is Ford's response to the market demand for car-based SUVs, but it arrived too late.

Ford's biggest seller, of course, is the "standard sized" pickup, the F-150. They sell more of them in the U.S. than anybody sells anything else. It is also a profitable product for Ford. Unfortunately it can't make Ford profitable by itself. And there are dark clouds in the future. The sales of big pickups in general are down because people buying them as cars are looking at the fuel economy (or lack of it) and buying something else. Also the Japanese, namely Nissan and Toyota now have competitive products in the marketplace. Car and Driver magazine just compared the four and picked the Chevy as best, but the Ford placed last. That is definitely not good news for Ford. It was interesting that the new Toyota wasn't first.

Another problem for me with Ford is their dealer network and customer support. My memory of my last Ford product was that the dealers couldn't fix it properly, and when there was a defect (Do you remember V-6 head gaskets? I do.), Ford wouldn't stand behind their vehicles when they were out of the regular warranty period. The only thing that saved me from financial disaster with the Ford was an extended warranty. That would keep me from getting a new Ford, let alone the lack of really desirable product.