Investor News

Although Ford Motor Company's total sales in March were down 14 percent, both the Ford Focus and Ford Edge were the highlights of March. Ford Sales Analyst, George Pipas says the Focus and Edge are more than holding their own in a difficult economy.

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

Cut #1:	"We’ve got a problem…and the problem is we haven’t found the ceiling yet for Focus sales, it’s really way beyond our expectations.": 08 sec.
	Pipas says consumers are gravitating from SUV’s and Trucks to smaller more fuel efficient vehicles, with an 88 percent increase in sales, but there is much more to it than that.

Cut #2:	"The product also has some appeal relative to other competitors in the segment because its share of that segment is up. So we’re extremely pleased and its very, very important to our future, because so many young buyers go to the small segment for their first vehicle purchase.":18 sec.
	According to Pipas, Ford has already announced plans to increase production, to meet consumer demand.

Cut #3:	"We just announced earlier this month that we have plans to increase Focus production in 2008 by 30percent compared with 2007.":11 sec.
	The Ford Focus as not the only model with an increase in sales during April , Pipas says the Ford Fusion was up 31 percent and the Mercury Milan 19 percent, setting another record for the month of April.

Cut #4:	"Word of mouth about Ford’s quality, particularly on these two models, which are rated second to none when it comes to the products in this category is really helping us and I think that this really bodes well for the future for these two products.":16 sec.
	Pipas was quick to point out that Ford Motor Company is so much better equipped today to meet the needs of consumers than it was just three years ago.

Cut #5:	"In 2004, seventy percent of Ford’s retail sales were trucks and sport utility vehicles, and it’s almost done a one-eighty in just three…alittle over three years time. In April, 62 percent of our sales in the United States were passenger cars and crossovers.":24 sec.
	Pipas says there is an obvious transformation taking place in the industry and Ford is prepared to meet the consumers demand.

# # #