According to Ford Sales analyst, George Pipas, Ford Sales in September were 34 percent lower than a year ago. Ford, Lincoln and Mercury dealers reported total sales of 116,734 last month.
to hear audio. Use right mouse click to download. Cut# 1:
| 'The weak economy, tighter credit situation and cautious consumers pulled Ford and industry sales levels this month to the lowest month in 2008" 12 sec. |
| Pipas says this is a very challenging situation and expects it to take several months to get through, even though some financial prognosticators see some stabilization coming by the second-half of 2009, Pipas is not so sure. | |
| Cut# 2: | "I think there is so much uncertainty involved when we're in the kind of credit situation that we face today, that it's difficult to put a deadline when we might see things begin to stabilize." : 11 sec. |
| Pipas explained that Ford has had to adjust their expectations quarter-by-quarter since the beginning of the year. | |
| Cut# 3: | "In this third quarter we have a 13 million sales rate, down from 14 in the second quarter and 15 in the first quarter. We've done some production cuts to try to reduce inventories at our dealerships so our dealers don't have to spend so much money flooring vehicles, we can work through this situation, but it's difficult for everybody." :22 sec. |
| On a more positive note, the first shipments of the new Ford F150 will be arriving in dealerships soon. Pipas says this vehicle has raised the bar again in capability. | |
| Cut# 4: | "It has class leading towing of 11,300 pounds and class leading payload capability of 3,030 pounds and on top of that the new SFE model delivers unsurpassed fuel economy, 21 mpg on the highway." :14 sec. |
| According to Pipas, every month since the 2009 Flex crossover went on sale Ford's share of the mid-crossover market has increased and has the highest conquest rate of any Ford product, with the exception of the Escape Hybrid. | |
| Cut# 5: | "And it's attracting import and premium buyers from their vehicles at a higher rate than any other, so add it all up and it's a very positive story on a really well executed product certainly something that is distinctively styled and is catching attention." :17 sec. |
| Pipas says at the end of the day the most important thing Ford can do, in this very difficult situation, is to continue to execute their plan. | |
| Cut# 6: | "We've got to restructure so we can be profitable at lower volume and accelerate the development of products that people want to buy. All we can do is strive to develop a balanced product portfolio and flexibility in our manufacturing system to accommodate the volatility that we see in consumer preferences and in other economic factors." : 22 sec. |