Ford, Lincoln Mercury Sales Down 10.7 Percent In August
Sales of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles fell 10.7 in August, as Ford’s success in last August’s Cash-For-Clunkers sales binge hurt year-over-year comparisons. And though that gives Ford a good excuse for its first year-over-year monthly sales decline since September 2009, the Blue Oval was down compared to last month as well (157,503 compared to 166,092). Mercury continued its death spiral, falling 22.5 percent, but Lincoln clawed back for a 9.4 percent bump. But things at Ford live and die by the Blue Oval brand, which was down 10.5 percent. Trucks performed best for the Ford brand, climbing 5 percent, but Utes were down 26.6% and Cars dropped 15.7 percent.
Perhaps the most significant drop came for Escape, which shed nearly 30 percent of its C4C-driven August 2009 volume, falling to 14,838 units. Ranger dropped by 46.3 percent, losing over 3,500 units of volume, and Focus fell 40 percent to 15,466 as Ford’s value-oriented offerings took a beating compared to clunker-era sales. A 4.5 percent increase in F-Series sales and a 50 percent bump in Taurus sales were the big volume gainers, as launch woes kept Fiesta at 3,315 units.
Lincoln’s gain, meanwhile, was less impressive than might be expected: only Towncar, MKT and Navigator actually increased sales, and none of them sold in four-digit volumes. Nearly 40 percent of Mercury’s volume came from Grand Marquis. But then, everyone knows that Ford’s luxury units are in trouble… the less said here the better. Speaking of which, Ford failed to release complete fleet sales numbers.
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Well....this does not look good at all for Ford. Running down the list: -Fiesta...that's it? All the (over) hype? The long and drawn out (and failed) marketing campagin and it could only muster 3300 sales? Oops. -Focus...not bad at all for the cheap, ugly, throw away car that it is...but there is a lot of cash on the hood. Could be worse though...it could be a Cobalt. -Fusion...behind the Camry, Accord, Sonata, Maxima, and Malibu. Ouch. -Taurus...another over-promised and under delivering car. Sales have seemed to settle in the 5K a month area. Not good as the Five Hundred, a year after it's introduction was selling FAR north of 10K units a month... -Crown Vic...All you can say is that Ford is making a mint on the Panther cars...and probably nothing else. Good to see them pulling their weight. -Escape/Edge...Escape is a fleet queen...but the Edge is still floundering...not good considering there is yet another Ford SUV-lite on the way. -Flex...Still an utter failure. Makes no sense to sell it with such dismal numbers with the Explorer coming out. 100K a year? Remember that sales goal? It's on track to sell 37K this year. It needs to go the way of Mercury. -Explorer/Expedition...dismal compared to the Traverse/Tahoe and Tahoe/Suburban. -Transient Connect...sales are still terrible... -Lincoln...their best product is the ancient, uncompetitive Navigator...their WORST product is the overpriced and under-delivering rebadge of the Taurus. But what a great idea to keep Lincoln and can Mercury. Bold Moves indeed. Mercury...Wow...the margin heavy Grand Marquis is tearing it up...now we know what is funding all of the other Ford products.
NulloModo: Your point about the Caliber vs. Fiesta is valid in that they are different size classes "C" vs. "B". But in terms of MSRP, they seem quite competitive. Most of the Fiesta's I have seen have stickered for $19-20,000. Most of the Calibers $18-19,000. Both are 5 door hatches (with Fiesta offering sedan option). The point I was trying to make is that the much maligned Caliber, which is considered to be a such a sales dud, outsold the much ballyhooed new Fiesta.