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US:Bill Ford vows to retake share; despite production cuts

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Bill Ford vows to retake share; despite production cuts, CEO sees new-product based rebound

AMY WILSON | Automotive News

DETROIT -- Despite enormous obstacles, Ford Motor Co. CEO Bill Ford said the automaker's U.S. market share will rebound within six months.

Ford Motor's stinging share slide will end as new products such as the 2005 Ford Freestyle sport wagon, Five Hundred sedan and redesigned Mustang grow the market, Bill Ford told Automotive News last week. If Ford Motor's year-to-date domestic brand share of 18.4 percent held through December, it would be Ford's lowest share since 1928.

Ford also is making moves to improve share longer term. Several vehicles are in the product pipeline through 2008. Bill Ford said a subcompact car smaller than the Focus is likely for North America.

But production cuts already on the books could make Bill Ford's predicted short-term share rebound nearly impossible.

Ford will drop a shift - up to 120,000 units of annual SUV production - from its St. Louis assembly plant in January. Nonproduction weeks are planned at other plants through the end of this year and in January, reducing the volume of product in the marketplace.

Weak products, tough competition and a less-than-robust economy have led to production cutbacks. But Ford Motor also has curbed sales to rental fleets deliberately this year in an attempt to improve profits, retail share and residual values.

"It is painful every month to wake up and see Ford lose its share again in North America," Bill Ford said. "But really, it's paid off for us."

Residuals are improving, and that discipline will continue. Strengthening retail share is more important than increasing total share, Bill Ford said, though he expects both to rise.

New small car

Getting into categories such as the sub-Focus segment could help share.

Bill Ford wouldn't say what a car for that segment could look like or when it could arrive. Ford dealers have been asking for a smaller car to position against vehicles such as the Chevrolet Aveo, which has a starting price of around $10,000.

Ford Motor just needs to figure out the right business case, Bill Ford said.

"We just need to be sure when we do something that we don't launch and abandon, which is something that has happened before in our history," he said.

Ford Motor sold both the Festiva and Aspire subcompacts in North America during the 1990s. Those Korean-made imports never took off.

Ford North American product chief Phil Martens has said the automaker will make a decision on a small car by the end of 2004.

Product planners are studying a subcompact platform being developed at Mazda. That platform is expected to carry Ford's next generation of small cars from the Ford Fiesta and Ka to the Mazda2. Those vehicles are sold in Europe and other select markets.

Rebuilding share

New segments may help Ford's long-term U.S. share, but there's also a lot of rebuilding to do.

Domestic-brand sales have skidded 4.7 percent this year, down 1.2 percentage points to an 18.4 percent share of the market through October. In October alone, Ford, Lincoln and Mercury combined for 18.7 percent of the market, down from 20.2 percent a year earlier.

Ford Motor's total U.S. share through October was 19.7 percent, down 1.3 percentage points. Total sales were down 5.1 percent in October. Retail sales dropped 3 percent, and fleet sales declined 10 percent, said George Pipas, Ford sales analysis and reporting manager.

Despite the decline, new products helped make October Ford's strong-est market share month since April.

The Freestyle, Five Hundred and related Mercury Montego sedan posted combined sales of 5,787. A portion, however, actually was recorded in September. Ford waited until October to start reporting sales of those new models.
 
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