Ford motor may US Sales Down 6.8%; Focus, Escape, Edge, Fusion Sell Less Than Prius

[Ming]

Originally Posted by 1931Chevy

I will wait until the new products start arriving by late 08 09, remember right now all the products that arrive this year where not blessed by the new management , when the Mullaly era product start arriving by late 08 then I will judge

New product and salvation is just a year or two away!

(Weren't the Fusion, Edge and new Mustang supposed to represent a new era? The redesigned F-150 a while back)



Tomorrow! Tomorrow! You're Only A Day Away!

[paul8488]

We all love hating the Lacrosse and Lucerne (based on ages-old platforms with ages-old engines and transmissions), but at 4913 (19,307 YTD) and 6788 (32,047 YTD), they both managed to outsell Ford's poor 500 this month (3889; 27,280 YTD), the development of which had to cost a pretty penny.

[Cabana Boy]

Originally Posted by Ming

New product and salvation is just a year or two away!

(Weren't the Fusion, Edge and new Mustang supposed to represent a new era? The redesigned F-150 a while back)



Tomorrow! Tomorrow! You're Only A Day Away!

Right!!!
and Ford is having trouble selling all those vehicles???

[Geotpf]

Originally Posted by paul8488

We all love hating the Lacrosse and Lucerne (based on ages-old platforms with ages-old engines and transmissions), but at 4913 (19,307 YTD) and 6788 (32,047 YTD), they both managed to outsell Ford's poor 500 this month (3889; 27,280 YTD), the development of which had to cost a pretty penny.

To be fair, the 500 is outgoing, to be replaced by the (All New!!!!!!!!11one) Taurus.

[Geotpf]

Originally Posted by andy82471

Ford is finished as a credible automaker. They are heading in the same direction as Chrysler. Looks like GM is our last and only hope to fend off foreign competition. BILLY FORD IS A JACKASS

Ford is definitely doing worse than GM, that's for sure. Anybody got Chrysler's numbers for this month? Even with all the chaos over there, they were up by a fair bit last month, so Ford may be worse than Chrysler as well.

[E. Haskell]

Originally Posted by Geotpf

Ford is definitely doing worse than GM, that's for sure. Anybody got Chrysler's numbers for this month? Even with all the chaos over there, they were up by a fair bit last month, so Ford may be worse than Chrysler as well.

I don't know about Chrysler doing better - maybe about the same. According to Edmunds, they are averaging an additional $1000 incentives per vehicle.

The Silverado outsold the F-Series by almost 2,000 units this month.

The Fusion is doing pretty well, but it's Ford's bread-and-butter sedan and it's on pace for only about 160k sales.

Does anyone think the Aura would come within 20k of the Fusion if Saturn offered a 4cyl model?

[69Firebird400]

Originally Posted by Geotpf

Ford is definitely doing worse than GM, that's for sure. Anybody got Chrysler's numbers for this month? Even with all the chaos over there, they were up by a fair bit last month, so Ford may be worse than Chrysler as well.

Chrysler is up 4% for May, and they claim fleet sales were down. Most of it was Jeep growth (+20%, including +114% for the Wrangler, which made it a record month for the Wrangler).

http://cgmedia.daimlerchrysler.com/n...?id=6939&mid=1

Chrysler Group May 2007 U.S. Sales Rise 4 Percent

• Jeep® brand up 20 percent
• Dodge brand gains 3 percent
• Chrysler brand car sales rise 22 percent fueled by “Maximize Your Miles” program
• Strong retail sales in May, fleet sales down
• Jeep Wrangler increases 114 percent, record month of May
• Inventory down by 19 percent and more than 110,000 units

Auburn Hills, Mich., Jun 1, 2007 - Chrysler Group reported sales for May 2007 of 199,393 units; up 4 percent compared to May 2006 with 191,261. All sales figures are reported unadjusted. “Chrysler Group increased overall sales in May based on a strong retail performance and while fleet sales were down,” said Darryl Jackson, Vice President – U.S. Sales. “Especially our new offerings in the car segment continued to gain momentum, supported by the fuel economy message of our ‘Maximize Your Miles’ program. Driven by models like the Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Avenger and Dodge Caliber, the company’s car sales increased 15 percent over the previous year.”

The Charger was up 26%! (Buick61 will surely like that one.) But as much as they trump the increased Jeep sales, every model but the Wrangler was down by double digits, except for the Compass/Patriot, since they weren't on the market a year ago.

[theVengineguy]

Well, the Prius is a buzz right now, and given the doomsday sayers about gas reaching 5 bucks a gallon are running to buy them before the end is near.

The big problem with Ford is they pick the worst ways to advertise vehicles. They almost break them down by which sex would buy them. You watch a baseball, basketball, hockey, etc. game, all you see is advertisements for the new Superduty. Hardly any fusion, escape, etc. Even main stream cable you rarely see ads. Watching the History chanel, see a ford commercial once in a blue moon, while i see tons of toyota and hyundai commercials.

I don't think every guy in the world that watches sports wants to buy a Superduty, likewise every woman that watched American Idol does not want to buy a Focus. Just mixing up your ads, and featuring them in different venues is worth a shot, cause obviousley gender role casting on programs doesn't seem to be working.

Regarding the overall sales, i think Ford has lost that grass roots type mentality. What use to keep Ford going was the keeping up with the Jones's type mentality, once an Explorer would reach a subdivision, a crap ton of families would have to own one. Problem is that the family stucture has changed, and the nuclear family is currently shifting to seprated parents. Obviously not gonna want to buy a 7 passenger SUV when you don't have as many kids.

Also the issue with ownership. Most of the new Camry's i see buzzin around are the 4 banger econo models, which tells me people are spending much less on autos, and are more focused on economy. The Fusion is alright, but the name is not known, and it only has a reputation as far as the forums, and car reviews. Millions of car owners do not frequent gm insidenews, or read about cars, so just the name in itself is a killer for the fusion.

With that said it takes a building process given the oversaturated market, to make a name for vehicle. The only reason the Taurus stood out back in the 80's is because it was a fresh perspective. Now that there are tons of mid sized sedans, it's difficult to stand out amongst the pack when it comes to consumers. Car mags are easy cause all you gotta do is make it comfortable and fast. Customers are entirely different because the first thing someone is gonna do before they buy a car is ask their friends what they think of it. If the name and the brand does not resonate well, then the sale is lost. Ford has lost that type of reputation, but with the Edge, Fusion, Escape, etc. customers, it will build. Not impossible to get out of a hole, just ford's problem is they don't follow a simple ideal: "Excelence is easy if you live it every day"

[PA Dweller]

Will Fords global sales be able to keep them afloat?

[HoosierRon]

[andy82471]

Originally Posted by Geotpf

Ford is definitely doing worse than GM, that's for sure. Anybody got Chrysler's numbers for this month? Even with all the chaos over there, they were up by a fair bit last month, so Ford may be worse than Chrysler as well.

You are right. It seems FORD is in worse shape than Chrysler. Damn !!!! FORD is flooded with new products. FUSION, MILAN, MKZ, MKX,EDGE. Aren't they selling very well ? I am not very optimistic that the upcoming TAURUS and SABLE duo will do much to turn the tide. Maybe it is time FORD considers some sort of tie up with another auto company. Otherwise their fate will be similar to Chrysler. Some big capital investment firm buying them up for cheap then tearing them to pieces and selling off the remains.

[Old Dood]

I don't "see" commercials like I use to being that I don't watch that much Network TV and what I do I usually record on my DVR...BUT, I never see any commercials pushing their Hybrids. They should have an all out blitz on these vehicles. That in it's self would get people in the show rooms and if anything sell other models of Fords.

Ford still has some decent all around cars and trucks. The Focus is still a good econobox and the Escape is pretty decent looking and seems to be a viable compeating vehicle too. They HAVE to advertise in the right spot. For example they have somewhat. In my PCGamer Magazine I have seen Ford Focus ads in there and they are not known for car ads. Not every month do I see a car ad in that magazine. Perfect magazine for the younger demographic.

[asim]

Not good, not good. It looks like another depressing month for Ford. It has been like this for a long time now; they really need to pull their act together somehow. Wow. The Fusion and Focus (the volume Ford vehicles) should definitely be outselling the Prius, thats sad.

[1931Chevy]

If you guys check the numbers with last year the difference on the Ford brand is off 22083 cars less, but this time last year the Taurus sales where of 16,786 at a loss for Ford and the difference would be off about 5297 cars so that means that Ford new products are selling ok, the Mercury Lincoln and Land Rover are up vs last year and this means for might be making a little more money, well this is how I see it

[PA Dweller]

Originally Posted by Old Dood

I don't "see" commercials like I use to being that I don't watch that much Network TV and what I do I usually record on my DVR...BUT, I never see any commercials pushing their Hybrids. They should have an all out blitz on these vehicles. That in it's self would get people in the show rooms and if anything sell other models of Fords.

Ford still has some decent all around cars and trucks. The Focus is still a good econobox and the Escape is pretty decent looking and seems to be a viable compeating vehicle too. They HAVE to advertise in the right spot. For example they have somewhat. In my PCGamer Magazine I have seen Ford Focus ads in there and they are not known for car ads. Not every month do I see a car ad in that magazine. Perfect magazine for the younger demographic.

I have seen Ford advertise the Mercury/Ford Escape Hybrid a few times and the Focus. But it isn't as much as the competition.