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http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080530/ANA02/601362275/1176&template=printart
posted the whole article since not everybody is member of autonews
posted the whole article since not everybody is member of autonews
DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is mulling its options on how to make enough small cars to meet customer demand. Those options include adding more shifts or speeding up production lines.
It’s a good problem for the No. 2 U.S. automaker as it prepares for major cutbacks in truck production. Driven by a doubling in U.S. gasoline prices over the last few years, pickup truck and SUV sales fell by 11.1 percent during the first four months of this year compared with the same period a year ago. Truck sales will fall even more in May.
But sales of the Ford Focus in May will come in at more than 30,000, said Joe Hinrichs, Ford group vice president of global manufacturing. Ford sold about 24,000 of the small cars in April.
The problem: Ford’s Focus assembly plant in Wayne, Mich., has capacity of about 230,000 vehicles annually. If market demand for the Focus keeps up,
Hinrichs on Friday gave a group of reporters the early glimpse of Ford’s sales figures for the month of May from the Wayne plant in suburban Detroit. He wouldn’t say whether Ford would add a third shift at the plant, or if any of Ford’s five plants that are cutting back on production of SUVs and trucks might be converted for car production.
“The market’s moving so fast in the last couple months that everyone’s hesitant to make any declaration of any sort,” Hinrichs said. “Two months ago, we didn’t think that truck sales would be where they are today. They declined at a rate that’s far faster than we expected.”
Ford’s truck sales fell 18.2 percent in May.
Hinrichs remarks come a week after Ford CEO Alan Mulally said meeting the shift of consumer demand away from trucks and SUVs and toward small cars and crossovers is a challenge affecting the entire industry. Mulally said the tipping point was $3.50-per-gallon gasoline. Prices now have topped $4 in some markets.
“If the market changes in a dramatic fashion -- and it is -- we have to continue to re-evaluate and look at what our options are,” Hinrichs said.
Ford didn’t prioritize cars as much as it should have. But Ford will move as fast as it can, he said. The other challenge will be predicting where demand for trucks and SUVs will shake out.
“You have to be very careful, because there’s a fine line between having one too few and one too many” plants producing a vehicle, Hinrichs said. “That’s the art and science of what we do.”
I mean, Ford sold 400,000+ Tempos in 1984. The Tempo is not exactly the pinnacle of compact sedans. I think everybody needs to keep this in mind: Great sales does not equal great car. A mediocre car can sell just because it is new and trendy, cheap, and/or full of features. Often, a vehicle's mediocrity will catch up to it.
