Oh No! Maybe There's Some Loyalty to Sedans After All

After Ford’s decision to cull all passenger cars except the Mustang, Blue Oval brass felt confident that existing and upcoming Ford trucks, SUVs, and crossovers (or crossover-like vehicles) would be more than enough to keep current car owners in the family.

That’s probably wishful thinking. A new survey of Ford sedan owners shows that the allure of other brands — those that still sell sedans — is enough to lure plenty of them away from the Ford flock.

The Cox Automotive survey, first reported on by Automotive News, reveals a fractured community of sedan owners. Half of the Ford sedan owners surveyed said they’d switch brands and purchase a new or used vehicle from a rival automaker when it comes time to ditch their car.

Though Ford owners weren’t a large wedge of the survey’s respondents, their answers show that Dearborn can’t count on light trucks to keep the family in one piece. Higher margins and new-to-the-brand buyers are good, but CEO Jim Hackett specifically said his company wouldn’t abandon car owners. Instead, Ford plans to reinvent the car.

“We don’t want anyone to think we’re leaving anything,” Hackett said in May.

Of the Ford sedan owners in Cox’s survey, only 10 percent said they’d swap their car for a Ford SUV or crossover at trade-in time. Five percent said they’d purchase a Mustang, while only 3 percent said they’d get behind the wheel of a truck. The majority of sedan owners surveyed said they opposed Ford’s decision to ditch all but one of its passenger cars.

Give this finding whatever weight you feel it deserves, as Ford wasn’t exactly facing skyrocketing sedan sales when it sent in the executioner. Quite the opposite. Still, no automaker wants to see customers jumping ship.

However, exactly what vehicles will replace these entry-level and low-end products still isn’t clear. Without something new and semi car-like to show off, what are existing owners supposed to look at and pine for? Right now, Ford’s main focus lies in launching the upcoming Bronco SUV, unnamed “Baby Bronco” crossover, and Ranger pickup. Rumors exist of a five-door, high-roof vehicle bearing the Fusion name — likely a slightly lifted, crossoverized vehicle in line with the future Focus Active.

According to Ford, seven of the nine new nameplates it expects to add over the next five years are light trucks, and the remaining two might be electric in nature. That doesn’t leave the automaker with a lot of product to woo, say, a Fiesta or Fusion owner with.

[Image: Ford]