Ford: Sales Drop Like Natural Disaster, Terrorist Attack Aftermath

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

Dow Jones’ Kathy Shwiff really should read her colleagues’ work. The lead of Schwiff’s morning-after mop-up of September’s auto sales debacle remains oblivious to Sharon Terlep’s conclusion that fleet sales saved GM from a total rout. “The heightening of the credit crunch at the end of the month saw showroom traffic tumble for a number of auto makers, but General Motors Corp.’s (GM) sales decline – half that of rivals Ford Motor Co. (F) and Toyota Motor Corp. ( TM) – showed that the right incentives can work. GM’s results were boosted in late August and last month by the return of an old standby – employee pricing. That helped the auto maker’s sales fall 16%, a less severe decline than many analysts expected.” Speaking of that Ford drop, FoMoCo sales analyst George Pipas got his freak on. I mean, freaked out. George said September sales levels and showroom traffic were “tantamount to a natural disaster” or the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Surprisingly, then, FoMoCo doesn’t share GM CEO Rick Wagoner’s bailout boosterism. “Ford economist Ellen Hughes-Cromwick noted the recent freeze in the short-term credit market affects businesses more than consumers, but marketing chief Jim Farley said he has seen lenders require higher down payments because they want to see more ‘commitment’ from buyers.” Uh, doesn’t Ford Motor Credit handle that stuff?

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Anonymous Anonymous on Oct 02, 2008

    You guys don't get it. The whole economy is going in the tank, this is just the result. Worldwide recession coming and the $700 billion is only a temporary stop gap measure. The housing industry is kaput, the auto industry is kaput, the rest will follow, government is going to see a huge downturn in revenues due too the lack of capital gains tax, lower income tax receipts and taxes from auto sales and house sales and all those comfy government employees are going to see there easy lifetime guaranteed jobs be not so guaranteed. The west has lived beyond it's means for years while regulations strangled the industry with the help of the UAW/CAW in the case of the Big 3. Now the chickens are coming home to roost. Looking at the silver lining, there won't be billions to waste on stuff like global warming and the UN.

  • MattVA MattVA on Oct 02, 2008

    In defense of Mr. Pipas, he didn't say the drop in sales was like the tragedy of 9/11. He said the current sales situation is like it was after 9/11. The picture that was up here along with headline made it seem like he was comparing a drop in sales to the events of 9/11 themselves, which is not the case.

  • 1996MEdition 1996MEdition on Oct 02, 2008

    bluecon Since the economy is tanking and industry coming to a standstill, the global warming "crisis" is solved. I am going back to sleep.

  • RobertSD RobertSD on Oct 02, 2008

    Thanks for clarifying that, MattVA. If you want the actual context of the conversation, I encourage you to listen to Ford's monthly sales call. Between the general PR that any company engages in, there are tons of great tidbits about how Ford and industry are doing and where things are going. The statement came up in the context of buyers sitting on the fence - even ones who can get credit to buy and may have the money and desire to buy - and he compared it to the effects that a natural disaster or terrorist attack (Katrina, 9/11, respectively) have on buying attitudes generally. A question came later about a reprise of 0% for 60 months to get people buying again like the companies did after 9/11 (from the press, I might add), and I nearly laughed. Could she not see that the industry is already offering 0%, thousands back, a trip to Fiji and 1c diamond for buying an Aveo?

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