Ford Sales Up In January, But Lincoln Is Still Lagging
Ford Motor Company sold 127,317 units last month for a 13.3% increase in volume, despite weak a performance from its Lincoln brand and a 95% drop in volume from the dead Mercury brand. Lincoln effectively has two viable products in its portfolio, the MKZ (1,574 units) and the MKX (1,546 units)… nothing else moved more than 1k units last month. And of all its products, only MKZ saw a year-over-year sales increase last month, up 17.5%. With Mercury gone (but for a few hundred Grand Marquis sales), Lincoln needs to get its act together before Ford becomes a one-brand outfit. Still, If Ford did cut back to a single brand, the Blue Oval would still be in decent shape. Ford-branded vehicle sales jumped 21 percent to 121,511 units last month. Focus fell slightly f(13.2%) to 9,014 units, but Fiesta is coming on strong with 4,270 units. Fusion saw a modest sales increase, as the midsized contender moved to 14,346 units. Taurus and Mustang fell by 23% and 33% respectively. Edge and Escape were up 42.8% and 30% respectively, and the new Explorer looks to be a hit with sales jumping 71% to 7,351. F-Series kept growing as well, with 35,806 units sold, and Transit Connect rose to above 2k monthly units while Ranger slid 31%.
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- TheEndlessEnigma These cars were bought and hooned. This is a bomb waiting to go off in an owner's driveway.
- Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Thankfully I don't have to deal with GDI issues in my Frontier. These cleaners should do well for me if I win.
- Theflyersfan Serious answer time...Honda used to stand for excellence in auto engineering. Their first main claim to fame was the CVCC (we don't need a catalytic converter!) engine and it sent from there. Their suspensions, their VTEC engines, slick manual transmissions, even a stowing minivan seat, all theirs. But I think they've been coasting a bit lately. Yes, the Civic Type-R has a powerful small engine, but the Honda of old would have found a way to get more revs out of it and make it feel like an i-VTEC engine of old instead of any old turbo engine that can be found in a multitude of performance small cars. Their 1.5L turbo-4...well...have they ever figured out the oil dilution problems? Very un-Honda-like. Paint issues that still linger. Cheaper feeling interior trim. All things that fly in the face of what Honda once was. The only thing that they seem to have kept have been the sales staff that treat you with utter contempt for daring to walk into their inner sanctum and wanting a deal on something that isn't a bare-bones CR-V. So Honda, beat the rest of your Japanese and Korean rivals, and plug-in hybridize everything. If you want a relatively (in an engineering way) easy way to get ahead of the curve, raise the CAFE score, and have a major point to advertise, and be able to sell to those who can't plug in easily, sell them on something that will get, for example, 35% better mileage, plug in when you get a chance, and drives like a Honda. Bring back some of the engineering skills that Honda once stood for. And then start introducing a portfolio of EVs once people are more comfortable with the idea of plugging in. People seeing that they can easily use an EV for their daily errands with the gas engine never starting will eventually sell them on a future EV because that range anxiety will be lessened. The all EV leap is still a bridge too far, especially as recent sales numbers have shown. Baby steps. That's how you win people over.
- Theflyersfan If this saves (or delays) an expensive carbon brushing off of the valves down the road, I'll take a case. I understand that can be a very expensive bit of scheduled maintenance.
- Zipper69 A Mini should have 2 doors and 4 cylinders and tires the size of dinner plates.All else is puffery.
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When I went to our auto show last month, the MKS struck me as the most disappointing model at the show. It was unattractive, overpriced, and didn't have the attention to detail of just about all its competitors. If there was an MKZ hybrid there, I didn't see it. I did see see a sleek Hyundai Sonata hybrid for 10+k less that wasn't even on sale yet.
Wow...very disappointing results. Ford's newest appliances are not doing anything in the market. Fiesta numbers continue to be dismal (the car does not live up to the hype), the Taurus that apparently made Big Al cry is doing horribly...and continues to sell at a rate that is WORSE than the Five Hundred. The new engines in the Mustang have done NOTHING to help sales. Clearly the car is over priced. The Flex continues to prove how useless it is, the Explorer must have had a TON of 2010 blow outs moved, the Transient Connect continues to have dismal sales and Lincoln...what a joke. With sales like that, the brand needs to go. People realize that they are nothing more than half-assed re-badged Fords with a higher sticker price. Ford need to focus on getting Ford right (probably not going to happen)...Lincoln is hampering that (weak) effort