Soundbites: April 2012 Sales

U.S. sales of some of Ford Motor Company's most fuel-efficient vehicles grew again in April, with the Ford Fusion and Edge setting all-time April records. According to Ford Sales Analyst, Erich Merkle, Explorer reported its best April sales since 2005 and F-Series sales reached its best April sales since 2007.

Click on to hear audio. Use right mouse click to download.

Cut #1:	"Ford Explorer is best in class for fuel efficiency, so if you look at 25 mpg with the V-6 and then the EcoBoost with 28 mpg, customers just are not able to find full-size utility vehicle with three-row seating and get that kind of fuel economy." :15 sec.
	While Explorer continues to meet customer demands, showroom shoppers in need of smaller vehicle have been able to meet their needs as well, balancing the sales of car to truck ratio about even, which according to Merkle is where the company wants to be.
Cut #2:	"It's been a really good mix, which is what we want, we want to see a nice balance portfolio of cars, trucks and utilities and we've been seeing that. If you look at calendar to date our cars sales have performed very nicely, with the addition of the new Focus, on the truck side with F-series, continues to perform very well, and then if you look at utilities the performance of Escape over the last four months have been very strong too." :30 sec.
	J.D. Power research sows fuel economy is the top reason for purchasing new cars this year and Ford is seeing this firsthand with strong sales of their most fuel-efficient vehicles, including 77 percent increase in vehicles with Eco Boost engines in April.
Cut #3:	"EcoBoost in this environment has allowed us to provide our customers with a really good alternative, so even though the industry is favoring the smaller cars and mid-size cars which are doing very well at Ford, there is also still a need, it hasn't went away, but there still a need, even during this high fuel price environment, where customers need things like utilities and pick-up trucks, and it certainly gives us an advantage with EcoBoost." :26 sec.
	Consumer confidence is coming back, according to Merkle.
Cut #4:	"Our forecast projection for this year is in the range of 14.5 to 15 million vehicles, that's going to be a very nice, robust year, given where we've been over the last three years." :12 sec.
	Overall, Ford Motor Company posted a 5 percent lower volume in April.