So Much For The Price War? Ford Raises Prices By $117

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Just two short months after Hyundai CEO John Krafcik warned that a brewing incentive and price war was “a step backward for the industry” and “short-term thinking in a long-term process that hurts manufacturers and consumers,” it seems that any signs of a price war are over. But before you rush to give a certain earthquake/tsunami combo credit for the entire situation, consider for a moment that Ford has now joined Toyota in raising prices while insisting it has nothing to do with supply interruptions. A Ford spokesman tells the Detroit News that

This is the second price increase this year [Ed: Ford bumped prices by $130 in January] but has been in the works for months as the industry faces higher commodity costs

Meanwhile, Ford is also the only Detroit-based manufacturer to bring incentives below nine percent of its average transaction price, as its March incentives were down nearly 10 percent compared to March of 2010. Between Ford and Toyota bringing up prices and Hyundai keeping sales growth strong despite low-low incentives, the pressure is mounting on GM, Chrysler, Nissan and Honda. Will they continue to trade margins for volume, or will they take the opportunity to bump prices as Japanese parts shortages continue to play out?


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • VanillaDude VanillaDude on Apr 05, 2011

    As the family shopper, over the past year inflation has returned and prices are going up quite noticably. However, due to the fact that the Feds include real estate and car prices into the mix, which have been deflationary, Washington has been pulling a scam claiming that inflation wasn't a problem for us. We don't buy cars and houses every month, so what the Administration has been reporting has been a fraud. Not anymore. If car prices will start to reflect the same level of inflation we have been witnessing every week at grocery stores and at gas pumps, perhaps the Truth here will finally be reported. Inflation is real and it is a real threat. Anyone who remembers shopping in the 1970s knows why we should be very concerned right now. I remember Malaise and Carter. It looks like we are getting Carter II economics right now. So, I consider what Ford and Toyota to be doing is merely reflecting market realities in the inflationary economy we are currently experiencing. Our economy is not getting better.

    • SVX pearlie SVX pearlie on Apr 05, 2011

      Nissan definitely traded price for volume. OTOH, last month, GM traded volume for profit (+$700 per car). Interesting times.

  • Buickman Buickman on Apr 05, 2011

    what is commonly referred to as inflation is now actually deflation, as in the deflation of your dollar. blame the president and congress for spending trillions on illegal and immoral wars, and point your finger at the Fed for printing trillions of dollars without any oversight. it's not gas going up or material costs rising. it's the dollar dropping and it's going to get a whole lot worse in the near term. worldwide rebellions are not about democracy or politics, they're about ordinary people fed up with banksters and politicos raping the general public.

  • PrincipalDan PrincipalDan on Apr 05, 2011

    To be fair, Ford does seem to be using much nicer interior materials now than in the past and their quality has improved. I'd shudder to compare the interior trim in the 1997 Escort I used to own to the interior trim in a new Focus. (I loved the Escort but lets be honest, it wasn't exactly posh digs on the inside.)

  • Z71_Silvy Z71_Silvy on Apr 05, 2011

    So...the severely overpriced...become more expensive. Unreal.

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