May Sales: FoMoCo: Down 16%, Ford cars up 13%, Focus up 53% (retail up 105%)

[igor]

http://media.ford.com/article_displa...ticle_id=28324

MAY BRINGS RECORD SALES FOR FORD FOCUS, FUSION

• Ford's redesigned Focus posted record May sales of 32,579, up 53 percent versus a year ago; retail sales to individual customers more than doubled (up 105 percent).
• Ford Fusion May sales (18,088) were the highest for any month, up 27 percent versus a year ago.
• Ford, Lincoln and Mercury car sales were 4 percent higher, with retail sales up 20 percent.
• Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales totaled 206,000, down 16 percent, reflecting lower daily rental (down 30 percent), truck and van (down 29 percent) and SUV (down 44 percent) sales.
• Total Ford Motor Company sales (including Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo) totaled 217,998, also down 16 percent.
• Ford confirms second and third quarter North American production plans.

DETAILED SALES BREAKDOWN HERE: http://media.ford.com/article_displa...ticle_id=28324

Igor

[wescoent]

The train has begun to roll.

People are slowly but surely realizing that Ford makes cars that are high quality and competitive with the Japanese.

People also realize that gas is $4.00 a gallon, and buying an F-150 to commute to work in and drive up your gravel driveway isn't the best idea anymore.

Either way, Ford is prepared. Flex and MKS are hitting dealers this month.

[CmicasatheGreat]

Originally Posted by igor

http://media.ford.com/article_displa...ticle_id=28324

DETAILED SALES BREAKDOWN HERE: http://media.ford.com/article_displa...ticle_id=28324

Igor

Did Ford just come outta NOWHERE and WALLOP the Cobalt with the new Focus??? Jeezus... 32K sales puts it up there with the Camry...

[rozz]

Terrible trucks sales, but their cars seem to be doing well.

Fseries down 30.6% from May of 2007.

[HoosierRon]

Taurus sales up 66.9%

Lincoln car sales down 50.3%.

But for the XF, Jaguar would be out of business. Good luck Tata.

[minnfang]

Nice to see the Taurus getting a bump in sales - it's a good car. Hopefully some of that is retail.

[wescoent]

Originally Posted by CmicasatheGreat

Did Ford just come outta NOWHERE and WALLOP the Cobalt with the new Focus??? Jeezus... 32K sales puts it up there with the Camry...

Not only that... but that's a Civic and Corolla number. Ford may have the best-selling compact car for May.

[minnfang]

Mustang sales -44.9%.

Boom!!! $4.00 gas is the atomic bomb that has ended the muscle car war.

[paul8488]

All Ford-branded cars are up, all Ford-branded trucks are down. It's too bad it's not out now, but this bodes well for the Fiesta when it finally arrives. Might not be a bad idea for Ford to consider a Fusion wagon. Actually, Ford should offer a 2 door, 3 door, 4 door, and 5 door Focus, to capatilize on its huge success. Ford should already be working on improving Focus fuel economy... the Focus should be their number-one priority vehicle right now, and they should finesse it until it's perfect.

The upcoming (it IS confirmed, right?!?) connect is also a good idea.

[wescoent]

Originally Posted by minnfang

Mustang sales -44.9%.

Boom!!! $4.00 gas is the atomic bomb that has ended the muscle car war.

With the Camaro and Challenger yet to hit the streets... uh oh.

[HoosierRon]

32,579 Focuses. That is an annual rate of 390,948. And keep in mind that Ford is production constrained. It could be selling even more.

Just imagine if it weren't butt-ugly.

[genjy]

Originally Posted by minnfang

Mustang sales -44.9%.

Boom!!! $4.00 gas is the atomic bomb that has ended the muscle car war.

Yeah, and to think that the Ford Mustang has usually been better selling than its GM and Mopar competitors.

This is bad news for the muscles and ponies.

[igor]

Originally Posted by paul8488

All Ford-branded cars are up, all Ford-branded trucks are down. It's too bad it's not out now, but this bodes well for the Fiesta when it finally arrives. Might not be a bad idea for Ford to consider a Fusion wagon. Actually, Ford should offer a 2 door, 3 door, 4 door, and 5 door Focus, to capatilize on its huge success. Ford should already be working on improving Focus fuel economy... the Focus should be their number-one priority vehicle right now, and they should finesse it until it's perfect.

The upcoming (it IS confirmed, right?!?) connect is also a good idea.

The Focus is getting 6speed Auto next spring. That should help things.

Igor

[paul8488]

Originally Posted by igor

The Focus is getting 6speed Auto next spring. That should help things.

Igor

Ah no joke! I didn't know that! That's the exact sort of thing they need to do. All too often the domestics release a decent car and leave it to go stale until the next model comes out. Incremental changes are the best wayt o keep a model going for years. CObalt XFE is a good example, and so is the Focus 6-speed.

I think Ford should come up with a little Focus-based pickup and delivery fan and a convertible. Make it a whole mini-brand. Make the plant flexible enough that they can adjust production of individual models up and down to keep the plant running at an overall steady level. They could add a performance coupe model... call it MustangMini, in the same vein as the old Probe... give it overall similar styling to the Mustang and a performance 4-cylinder engine to attract people that want a sporty car but are scared off of the Mustang due to high fuel prices.

[Buick61]

Originally Posted by wescoent

With the Camaro and Challenger yet to hit the streets... uh oh.

The Challenger has hit the streets. And it's sold out for the 2008MY, so I think Chrysler will be OK as long as they keep production in line with demand.

Great news for the Focus. I, gasp, actually could see myself buying one.