1. Home
  2. General Ford Forum
  3. Ford Sales Down 10.7 Percent

Ford Sales Down 10.7 Percent

Ford Sales Down 10.7 Percent

formatting link
Before the Friends of the Blue Oval get out their Woo-Hoos, it behooves anyone looking at any of June?s new car sales figures to remember that today?s percentages are all stated in relation to June 2008, which was a tremendously crap month for car dealers. Industry-wide, sales fell 18 percent, as gas prices rose and America?s economic bubble popped like a festering . . . you get the idea. If not, clock this factoid: June ?09 marks the 24th year-over-year monthly decline in the last 25 months. Rose tinted glasses crushed under the jackboot of reality, let?s continue. . . ?Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales totaled 148,153, down 11 percent versus a year ago, which is believed to be the month?s lowest decline among major auto manufacturers.? Yes, it?s that bad out there that doing less bad than the other guys is considered a major victory. Click here for full results. Jump for instant analysis (just add page views). Again, Ford?s press release is full of the sales equivalent of moral relativism.

?Ford Mustang sales to retail customers [7,632 vs. 10,893] nearly matched year-ago levels.? Not sure what part of that stat?s retail and what part?s fleet (Ford pulling its usual stunt in this regard). Taken as a whole, that?s a 29.9 percent drop to you and me.

?Retail sales for the Ford F-Series and Ranger pickup trucks were higher than a year ago.? As Steely Dan sang in Gaucho, would you care to explain? ?I?m seeing a 7.4 percent drop in F-150 sales (35,915 and a

38,789 and a 4.4 percent increase in Rangers. Still, if not for pickups, Ford would be dead.

?Although Lincoln sales were lower than a year ago, Lincoln gained market share in the luxury segment in the first half of 2009 versus a year ago. This primarily reflects the strength of the all-new Lincoln MKS sedan.?

Yes, they are lower: 7,137 vs. 9,718, for a 26.6 percent drop. And yes, sales of the new MKS are WAY up in percentage terms?254.5 percent. But the raw numbers are still pretty dire: 1,365 vs. 385 units. To put that in some perspective, BMW sold 8,621 3-Series and 3,904 5-Series sedans last month.

Anyway, there?s Blue Oval blood everywhere. The monthly and year-to-date numbers are staggeringly bad. Suffice it to say, my preliminary read of these stats is that Ford?s ?success? is fleeting. The only models not jumping off a cliff are vehicles headed for fleet duty. Hence Ford?s insistence on touting retail sales?without revealing them. See how that works? And the production ramp-up only looks good in comparison to the total shutdown in Q2, which allowed inventory levels to taper off. See how that works?

Now that New Chrysler is burning tax dollars without a car in the world, and New GM is about to emerge debt-free with the Mother of All Sugar Daddies (Uncle Sam) footing the bills, Ford is looking more and more like the next American English patient, if you know what I mean.

Reply to
Jim Higgins
Loading thread data ...

What wrong with selling certain models to fleets? The discount to fleets for buying more than five is only around $800, that is less than most retail rebates.

ALL manufactures sell to fleets, including the import brands. What difference does it make WHO buys your product?

Toyota as been dumping Tundra's and Solars at the Manheim Auctions and BELOW BUILD COST to rental fleets for the past three years.

Toyota would love to sell to corporate fleets buy they get few takers.

Reply to
Mike

Percent

formatting link

go Ford !

Reply to
gnu / linux

Many fleets, like Hertz, sell low-mileage cars for a lot less than the retail price when they are just 1 or 2 years old. This drives down the price of used cars, which makes it hard to sell new cars later.

Based on your opinion. Evidence please.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

Odd conclusion to come to after you FAILED to quote GM and Chrysler's June

2009 new car sales figures. No, I don't know what you mean. Please expand and explain fully.
Reply to
Dioclese

On the plus side, Ford is back solidly in the number two position in US sales for the year and within shouting distance of GM. Toyota sales crashed disastoruly, and they are barely above Honda in the US now. So while the news is not great for Ford, it is not as bad as for some others.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

government motors sales are down over 50%, and that is with the zero percent financing and all the free give aways.

it has nothing to do with people buying foreign cars, it is all about the pisspoor economy and the fact that unemployment is over 20%.

when people don't have alot of money, they pay attention to what they spent it on, and new cars is not a big purchase item now days.

i for one think the fact that ford sales are only down 11% is a pretty damn good indication of the quality of fords customer appeal.

Reply to
Tom

You are confusing rental cars companies with corporate fleets, which are the major buyer of fleet vehicles.

Vehicles are the "product" of rental companies and are generally sold at auctions like Manheim, after the model year just like thousands of other one year old foreign and domestic cars.

To fleets, on the other hand, vehicles are another "tool" used in their business that must be kept in service for five years of 300,000 miles because of federal corporate tax deprecation laws.

When five year old corporate vehicles are sold at the auctions they often return better price because they have been provided with far better preventive maintenance than the average vehicle

Many fleets, like Hertz, sell low-mileage cars for a lot less than the retail price when they are just 1 or 2 years old. This drives down the price of used cars, which makes it hard to sell new cars later.

Based on your opinion. Evidence please.

Jeff

Reply to
Mike

The annual sales of EVERY major vehicle manufacturer, foreign and domestic, are down. Sales dropped from a record high of near 19,000,000 in 2007 to around 12,000,000 (annualized rate) so far in 2009 according to the US Department of Commerce site. That rate is still higher than the 9,000,000 record set back in 1978 when GM sold more than 52% of the market

All major vehicle manufacturers, foreign and domestic have reported red ink losses starting in the third quarter of 2008.

GM has continued to be the number one seller in the US even while it is in bankruptcy and currently Fords market share is the only major manufacturer reporting a rise in market share. Toyota currently and since the third quarter of 2008 has been losing money world wide and particularly in the US, the worlds largest market.

formatting link

Reply to
Mike

Really!. I read in the newspaper just this morning that Ford's Fusion "outsold all eight Chrysler brand models combined in June." That Chrysler's minivan is being outsold by Honda's Odyssey and that their sales are down

48% from last year. And, I doubt GM is going to achieve the monumental turnaround they claim. Ford may be the only left in the end. Of course, I'll stick with my Honda.
Reply to
tww1491

Sound decision. I think that Chrysler has at least 18 months until they see the first Fiat models (Fiasco 1, 2, 3 ?) so what do they use for product in the meantime? What they already have saw sales fall off the cliff again in June so do they keep sucking up bailout money and raping the taxpayers?

Reply to
Jim Higgins

formatting link
>>

At age 68, I remember vividly Fiat before they gave up and went back to Italy. I simply cannot see where they (Fiat) can suceed against the large variety of good medium/small cars already available in the U.S. I don't know how they doing in Europe against Toyota and Honda, but I suspect they don't compete well unless things have really changed for them.

Reply to
tww1491

It appears Fiat kicks ass in Europe when it comes to Toyota, Honda and the rest of the Jap cars. ;)

formatting link
>>>

Reply to
Mike

Toyota sales in the US are way off as well, to the point Toyota is loosing money. You must be referring to the Japanese taxpayers who have been subsiding the Jap car makers since WWII? LOL

formatting link
>>

Reply to
Mike

I don't think they can compete either. Their cars sucked when they were in the US in the 80s, and they suck now in Europe according to recent JD Power quality data.

Derek

Reply to
Derek Gee

Jap cars sucked in the seventies and the eighties as well ;)

Reply to
Mike

In my experience they did not-- I had a Datsun 280Z and also a Datsun 810. Both great cars. My boss had a 76 Accord -- said it was the best car he ever had.

Reply to
tww1491

Mikey isn't too bright.

Reply to
Jim Higgins

Perhaps, but that is only three. But were are they today? They sure are not showing up at the old car shows and that was the point of my post. LOL

Reply to
Mike

What I have seen at old car shows is not representative of what came off the lot in those days.

Reply to
tww1491

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.