Today Ford reported a nearly 1 billion dollar profit for the third quarter of 2009, something that I’ve seen coming for months mainly because they were the only company out of the big three that refused to take the poisonous TARP money. Without getting too political I think the whole “it’s too big to fail classification” is a joke in a free market economy. Ironically many of the large companies we have today were started in a recession, because failing companies during a recession pave the way for innovation.

Not only did Ford not take government money, they have a phenomenal product line up, and great marketing, something that the other two “American” car companies lack. You can really tell that Ford genuinely believes in the products they make, and their website clearly demonstrates that. Ford’s website delivers a clear message – American cars are back, more fun and more fuel efficient than ever. The site has big, bold and exciting images of their product line up, and plays on simplicity, as seen below:

GM’s site on the other hand is less refined, lacks a clear message, is overly complex and has small product pictures. You can tell that this is a company in trouble, just from the site alone.

I don’t think it’s coincidence that Ford is doing the best out of the 3 American Auto Makers and also happens to have the best website. It seems like I see this time and time again. Just compare the functionality of Netflix with Blockbusters site. Which service would you be more likely to sign up for from the website alone? Netflix continues to sign up millions of new subscribers a year, while Blockbuster has been on the decline for 5 years now, and probably won’t be able to hold out much longer.

Do you think I’m on the money here, or is there something I’m missing with this whole thing? Maybe I’m generalizing too much, but again I don’t think something like this is a coincidence.