The Dyson company recently sent me a Dyson DC31 Animal vacuum to review, as part of “Clean Your Garage Day”, a made-up holiday dedicated to cleaning up garages.

I saw Ford’s latest sales numbers on BlueOvalNews recently. Battling insomnia, I took a look. Despite Ford’s attempt to put a cheerful spin on the numbers, I see some very disturbing trends which should rattle any Ford fans who are paying attention.

• Jaguar is catatonic*. Nothing subtle here, -41% sales from Q1 2005. They need some product, and the need it soon. Sales of the recently redesigned flagship, the aluminium bodied XJ are off 40%. The X-Type and S-Type shouldn’t even be discussed in polite company.
• The nearly forgotten Taurus sold more units, 55,833, than Fusion + Five Hundred (22,962 + 29,845 = 52,807). This had better change, or… The Fusion and 500 were supposed to replace the Taurus, and mark the beginning of Ford’s competitiveness in the car business. I hate to sound like TTAC, but this is starting to look like a disaster.
• The Mustang is selling at about the same rate as the Focus. That is, Ford is letting the Focus wither. The Focus should be a bread-and-butter car for Ford. The Mustang is nice, but it is more of a toy, not a car for the masses.
• Freestyle sales are firming up. This is good, Ford is probably recapturing some customers who are dumping the Explorer (-25.4% vs Q1 2005).
• The Explorer, a high-profit vehicle, is not doing well after a significant update. GM’s Trailblazer/Envoy had a similar decline, but it was not updated in some time. Which means that Ford plowed millions of dollars into the Explorer update for very little return. There is a pattern here.
• Sales of the Escape declined by 4.2%, even with the ramp up of Escape Hybrid production. Another example of Ford letting a key product slide for too long before an improvement–everyone else (Honda, Toyota) has since redesigned their compact SUVs.
• Sales of the Freestar minivan have collapsed at a Jaguar-like pace: -34% from last year. Again, after a major update to the product, which included adding a new powertrain, structural changes, and an all new interior.
• The F-series (F-150, F-250, etc.), which make up fully half of Ford’s truck volume, showed an increase. This goes to show that fuel prices are not necessarily the driving factor in the sales of light trucks–product appeal is. Heavy trucks showed an even larger gain, +7%.
• Volvo is not doing well, either. The new S40 declined by 4% instead of advancing. The new V50 was off by 27%. Even Volvos best seller, the XC90 SUV, which just got a Yamaha V8, slid by 2%. Some of this may be attributed to currency exchange issues, which make Volvos more expensive.
• Land Rover’s relatively new LR3 declined by 9.2%.

You can’t really guess profitability from sales numbers, but from the trends, it looks like Ford is being kept afloat mostly by Mustang, F-series, and commercial fleets. This despite all the hoopla about “the year of the car”. Management can make excuses about fuel prices hurting SUV sales, but then how they explain the decline of the Escape and the rise of the F-150? Recent redesigns of some key products did not appear to hold the line, while other segments such as small car and small SUV are being neglected.

How long can this continue?

*Get it? Jag? Cat…

There’s a good piece here about the rising back-lash against corn-based ethanol mandates. The government is now finding out that mandating more ethanol is putting pressure on corn prices, which has some undesirable unintended consequences. Such as more expensive feed for livestock, which will translate into more expensive meat; more expensive corn syrup, which is the cheap sweetener of choice in just about every commercial food; more planting means more land use and more pesticides.

Corn ethanol seemed unstoppable, but a remarkable thing happened on the road from Des Moines. Just as the smart people warned, the government’s decision to play energy market God and forcibly divert huge amounts of corn stocks into ethanol has played havoc with key sectors of the economy. Corn prices have nearly doubled, which means livestock owners can’t afford to feed their animals, and food and drink manufacturers are struggling to buy corn and corn syrup. Environmentalists are sour over new stresses on farmland; international aid groups are moaning that the U.S. is cutting back its charitable food giving, and many of these folks are taking out their anger on Congress.

…

Things are even hotter in Washington, where lobbying groups are firming up their positions against corn ethanol. The hugely influential National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has gone so far as to outline a series of public demands, including an end to any government tax credits (subsidies) for ethanol and an axe to the import tariff on foreign ethanol. Put another way, the cattlemen are so angry that they are demanding free markets and free trade–a first.

Those wacky cattlemen.

Once again, a great example of how poorly considered government rule-making can distort the market.

If we really wanted to increase ethanol use, we would drop the tariff on imported ethanol, a whopping $ 0.54 per gallon. We could then import Brazilian ethanol, which is made more cheaply than our own. But the truth is, the ethanol mandates are mostly a farm lobby pay-off.

I got a great deal on a Dell DJ Ditty flash mp3 player. I figured I could use it as a flash USB drive, and once in a while for the FM radio and MP3 player. After a few hours of fiddling with it, here are my impressions:

• The Good:
• Sound quality is good
• Battery life in MP3 or FM mode is good
• Design is sharp
• Can be used as a USB hard drive
• Can be had for cheap on eBay, or as a Dell give-away
• The Bad:
• No playlist support
• Displays ID3 tags, but CAN NOT NAVIGATE BY ALBUM OR ARTIST. This is a MAJOR flaw.
• Small display
• The Verdict:
• Use this as a flash drive with MP3, FM capabilities. Or use it like an Apple iPod Shuffle, with no regard to music navigation. Don’t use it as your front line MP3 player, you will be disappointed.

Note to Dell: You had better issue some firmware that lets users skip albums/artists, or you are not going to get anywhere in this market.

UPDATE: I used Dell’s support chat to try to find out about skipping albums/artists. I apparently was chatting with a fellow in India. Frustrating, but funny.

0:34:18 AM		System	Welcome (real name removed) …
document.write(writeTime(1146112458, 0))0:34:18 AM		System	Connecting to server. Please wait…
document.write(writeTime(1146112458, 0))0:34:18 AM		System	Thank you for using Dell Chat, a representative will be with you soon.
document.write(writeTime(1146112458, 0))0:34:18 AM		System	Initial Question/Comment: Can I skip tracks on my Ditty by artist/album?
document.write(writeTime(1146113844, 0))0:57:24 AM		System	You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat
document.write(writeTime(1146113844, 0))0:57:24 AM		System	Connected with Rahul
document.write(writeTime(1146113848, 0))0:57:28 AM		Rahul	Thank you for contacting Dell Hardware Warranty Support. My name is Rahul and my rep ID number is (removed). May I have your telephone number, along with the area code?
document.write(writeTime(1146113892, 0))0:58:12 AM		You	(removed)
document.write(writeTime(1146114020, 0))1:00:20 AM		Rahul	Thank you for the information.
document.write(writeTime(1146114132, 0))1:02:12 AM		Rahul	Yes, there is a Rewind/Skip Back Button on your dj.
document.write(writeTime(1146114180, 0))1:03:00 AM		Rahul	On the right side of your dj, do you see the Lanyard Attachment ?
document.write(writeTime(1146114183, 0))1:03:03 AM		You	I can only seem to use it to skip one song at a time… is it possible to skip to the next album or next artist?
document.write(writeTime(1146114315, 0))1:05:15 AM		Rahul	yes,
document.write(writeTime(1146114330, 0))1:05:30 AM		Rahul	Please refer to the steps below:
document.write(writeTime(1146114341, 0))1:05:41 AM		Rahul	On the right side of your dj:
document.write(writeTime(1146114350, 0))1:05:50 AM		Rahul	1. USB Connector – Connects your Dell DJ Ditty to a computer to transfer data files or tracks, and charges the battery. 2. Lanyard Attachment – Connects Lanyard 3. Rewind/Skip Back Button – Moves to start of current track or goes to previous track. Holding down the button rewind within a track. 4. Play/Pause Button – Starts or pauses a track. 5. Fast Forward/Skip Forward Button – Moves to the end of the current track or goes to next rack. Holding down the button moves forward within a track. 6. Volume/Scroll/Select Dial – Increases or decreases volume. Scroll to an item in the menu list. Press in to select menu item. Pressing and Holding the button in will lock or unlock the player.
document.write(writeTime(1146114400, 0))1:06:40 AM		You	SIR, I AM AWARE HOW TO USE THE ARROWS TO SKIP TO THE NEXT SONG.
document.write(writeTime(1146114414, 0))1:06:54 AM		You	I WISH TO SKIP TO THE NEXT ***ALBUM***
document.write(writeTime(1146114430, 0))1:07:10 AM		Rahul	I apologize what i mean to say that these are the only features available on the dj.
document.write(writeTime(1146114433, 0))1:07:13 AM		You	This is a common capability of most MP3 players. I can’t figure out how to make the DJ Ditty do it.
document.write(writeTime(1146114446, 0))1:07:26 AM		You	I see.
document.write(writeTime(1146114482, 0))1:08:02 AM		You	Rahul, would it be possible to put in an offiical request to the firmware group in charge of the Ditty to add this capability: skip album, skip artist?
document.write(writeTime(1146114532, 0))1:08:52 AM		You	You see, the lack of this simple feature renders the Ditty UNCOMPETITIVE with most other MP3 playes, except of course for the execrable Apple iPod Nano, which is JUNK.
document.write(writeTime(1146114593, 0))1:09:53 AM		Rahul	At this point, what i assure you that i will surely pass on your valuable concerns of the issue to our engineering team.
document.write(writeTime(1146114603, 0))1:10:03 AM		Rahul	I apologize for the inconvenience this matter may have caused to you. We value you as our customer and your satisfaction is
document.write(writeTime(1146114603, 0))1:10:03 AM		Rahul	very important for us.
document.write(writeTime(1146114653, 0))1:10:53 AM		Rahu	I can really understand the situation that you are facing with this issue. Had I been in your place, I would have been feeling the same as you are feeling.
document.write(writeTime(1146114769, 0))1:12:49 AM		Rahul	Sir, Is there anything else I can assist you with apart from the current issue that you are facing?
document.write(writeTime(1146114892, 0))1:14:52 AM		You	No, I have communicated what I wanted to. Thanks.
document.write(writeTime(1146114907, 0))1:15:07 AM		System	The session has ended!

Update: I did write “iPod Nano” but I meant to slam the iPod Shuffle, which is similar to the DJ Ditty but has no display or FM radio. The Nano is nice, but expensive, and also has no FM radio.