Ford U.S. Sales Fall 14%

Ford said Tuesday August U.S. car sales dropped 14% due to high fuel prices, a lack of reasonable credit, and housing market weakness. Ford said it sold 218,332 cars and light trucks in August, vs. 255,112 a year ago. Passenger car sales fell 34%, while trucks and SUVs were down just 2.4%. But an 82% jump in sales of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury's redesigned crossover vehicles encouraged the company: "Demand for our new crossovers continues to grow despite challenging economic conditions," it said. The company forecasted Q4 North America production of 640,000 vehicles, 6% more than a year ago when the carmaker implemented a massive production cut. "Our plan remains to align production capacity and inventories with consumer demand," said Ford's Mark Fields. Ford said it will offer $1,000 discounts on almost all 2007/8 vehicles, in an effort to increase sales. GM surprised analysts Tuesday, saying its August sales were up 5% over a year ago (full story). Japanese carmaker Toyota, meanwhile, posted an unexpected 2.8% drop in U.S. sales (full story). Ford's chief sales analyst said in an analyst conference call Tuesday it had 519,000 vehicles in its inventory at the end of August -- 151,000 cars and 368,000 trucks -- down 140,000 from 2006. He also said Ford is on track to cut sales to rental companies by 135,000 units in 2007. Ford shares are up 2.6% to $8.01 in midday trading.

Sources: Press release, Wall Street Journal, Reuters,
Commentary: Automakers Lower 2007 Forecasts • Have You Driven A Ford Lately? • Stocks With the Least Analyst Love
Stocks/ETFs to watch: F. Competitors: GM, TM
Earnings call transcript: Ford Q2 2007

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Comments

[Carl leason:]

I would love to be a Ford fan again but they are not producing anything that looks interesting and yet they keep on pumping out pick up trucks that get 12 miles per gal. and expect to make money ??
They really need to NO.1,..Get some really good looking cars again !
Think of the days of the 4 pasenger T Birds, the early mustangs, the 57 Fords , 55 Mercurys, TurnPike Cruisers, those were exciting times. Now we are stuck with a company that only looks at the other makes and produces look alike cars ! Cookie cutter cars that look so ordinary !...What ever happened to excitement when the new models came out every Sept. in the good old days ??
Fords biggest problem is that they have no more Lee Iacoccoa's (sp) No more imagination, just a focus on the ordinary !
At least GM and Chrysler are trying by coming out with some "Different" looking cars , if not exciting ! Ford needs someone who can put excitement back into the way cars look ! LC

2007 Sep 06 01:58 AM