Ford Sees Financial Increase for July – No, Seriously!
Ford announced this past July saw gains for their first monthly financial increase in a year. This is partially due to the cash for clunkers program, as well as growing dealer incentives and better quality products then some of those other Big Three vehicles. Why is C4C being blamed? The spur new car sales during the last week of July, particularly among four-cylinder models. July is not traditionally a strong month for automakers since current year inventories tend to be weakening and plants are shut down for year-to-year retooling.
Here are the hard facts, courtesy of Left Lane News:
The Good
Ford division saw a 2.9 percent increase overall, driven mostly by Fusion (up 66 percent to 17,610) and Focus (up 43.6 percent to 21,830). Numerous Ford dealers reported that their Focus inventories, in particular, were essentially depleted. On the truck side, Escape sales were up 94.2 percent (to 20,241), Flex sales were up 64.7 percent (to 3,631) and Ranger sales were up 64.5 percent (to 7,695).
Mercury also saw a 6.6 percent increase in sales thanks to hefty demand for the Milan (up 59.8 percent to 2,934), Mariner (up 70.5 percent to 3,682) and even the Grand Marquis (up 3.8 percent to 2,667).
Volvo sales were up 25.7 percent thanks to a 257.2 percent increase in demand (to 1,461) for the S60, which was heavily marketed to clear out old inventories.
The Bad
Not helped by the Cash for Clunkers program due to its fairly high line-wide consumption, Lincoln was Ford’s sore spot. Sales were down 24.3 percent despite a 95.2 percent increase in Town Car sales (to 1,841).
The Ugly
Ford, up 2.9 percent to 142,135.
Lincoln, down 24.3 percent to 6,672.
Mercury, up 6.6 percent to 10,031.
Volvo, up 25.7 percent to 6,441.
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