Ford, Lincoln and Mercury third quarter sales were 5 percent higher than a year ago in the U.S., making Ford the only full-line manufacturer to report a sales increase in the period. Sales analyst, George Pipas says Ford's new products are what drove the industry's only third-quarter U.S. sales boost.
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| Cut #1: | "That's certainly the case, but in the third quarter when the cash for clunkers program was running for four weeks, these fuel efficient products were on the shopping list of many consumers. These products like the Fusion and the Hybrid, the Focus and the Escape and as well as the F-150, which has unsurpassed fuel economy in its segment, helped Ford post a substantial market gain over the third quarter of last year." :28 sec. |
| Cash for Clunkers did much good for the industry and the consumer, but a slowdown in sales was expected in September, according to Pipas the industry sales rate dropped to about 9-million on an annual basis from the 14 million posted in August. | |
| Cut #2: | "I think it was a positive program, it resulted in production increases to replenish the inventories, took a lot of less fuel efficient vehicles off the road and now those production increases are going to contribute probably to positive GDP growth in the third and fourth quarter." :15 sec. |
| For estimates it gained over 2 points of market share versus last year in September and the third quarter…Pipas says it marked the 11th time in the last 12 months Ford has gained retail market share. | |
| Cut #3: | "It's really unprecedented in over a decade such a performance of market share improvement has not occurred. The new products are really starting to resonate, consideration for Ford products is up, more people are putting us on their shopping list. I think we are building a trust with consumers and we certainly hope to grow that trust in the future." :18 sec. |
| Pipas emphasized the balance of the new lineup, whether it be small cars or hard working trucks, consumers can rely on getting what they want, but of all the new product being rolled out by Ford, the 2010 Taurus in the last couple of months has had the best sales figures of all the Ford brands. | |
| Cut #4: | "In the month of September, it was the new Ford Taurus. Sales were up 60% compared with a year ago. They eclipsed the five-thousand mark for the first time in over a year. Taurus sales were up 49% compared with August. Ford really bucked the industry trend because the industry was down sharply compared with over a year ago, whereas Taurus was up 60 percent and the industry was down sharply compared with August." :23 sec. |
| Looking down the road for the fourth quarter, Pipas cautions that the economic fundamentals are fragile, but does see growth. | |
| Cut #5: | "I think for many consumers it won't feel like the recession is over, even though technically it may be. We're probably going to deal with rising unemployment, consumer confidence is not nearly back to any kind of historical norm, and so I think we would expect auto sales to improve in the fourth quarter compared with their pre-clunkers levels, but I think it's going to be pretty slow going.":24 sec. |