Is Ford… Underperforming?
Ask an industry-watcher to name an automaker that seems to be doing things right, and chances are one of the top choices would be Ford Motor Company. And though Ford is enjoying favorable perceptions in the media, according to the company’s own internal goals, it’s actually underperforming. And in a key metric, no less: retail market share. Bloomerg reports:
Ford in the first quarter had 13.6 percent of the U.S. retail auto market, which excludes sales to fleet buyers, according to researcher Edmunds.com. That trailed the 14.1 percent target Ford’s board set for executives to match or exceed this year, according to the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker’s government filings.
Though Ford outsold GM last month in terms of pure volume, and though GM’s retail market share seems to have been at one of its lowest levels in years, it was still higher than Ford’s (15.6% compared to 13.6%). Last year, Ford hit only 44% of its corporate market-share goal and 58% of its target for the American markets, while coming up .1% short of its 14.2% US retail market share goal. Still, Ford’s strong profitability last year points to the fact that market share isn’t everything, even though retail market share is heavily weighted in Ford’s executive bonus formula (as it reflects “consumer acceptance”). But will Ford continue to give up market share in order to protect profits if executives have incentives to “buy” market share with spiffs? At this point, only time will tell…
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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It'd be interesting to see if jimmyy's IP address is shared with another Ford critic here.
Don't take this the wrong way, as I mean it sincerely, after having read MANY of your posts, but have you ever NOT criticized Ford, or not jumped in to at least mitigate criticism of Ford, their offerings, their failings, their outdated platforms, their relatively high pricing (Bloomberg article mentioned this today in a highly negative article on Ford), or any of their other significant mis-steps? I realize you work at a Ford Dealership, but a little objectivity at least once couldn't hurt your credibility, and might even shake some of the notion that you are a literal and perpetual Ford Public Relations 'Bot.'
My comment above was directed towards NulloModo.
In the interest of vis a vis, I feel it is only fair to continue the saga of another 'death watch' series. :-)