US:Ford U.S. sales chief sees softer '07 for industry - Ford Forums

Stacy94PGT · 11-30-2006, 12:02

Ford U.S. sales chief sees softer '07 for industry

Reuters

LOS ANGELES -- Ford Motor Co. expects U.S. auto sales in 2007 to be "softer than this year," the No. 2 U.S. car maker's vice president for sales and marketing in North America said.

Cisco Codina also said he expected total industry-wide sales incentive spending to be flat in 2007 compared with this year and forecast Ford would protect its market-leading position in pickup trucks.

"We are not going to make it easy for anyone, when it comes to truck sales," Codina said Wednesday, Nov. 29, at the Los Angeles auto show.

Ford and other U.S. automakers will face a new competitor in the full-sized pickup market from Toyota Motor Corp., which will introduce a redesigned and larger Tundra in February.

Codina said industry-wide U.S. auto sales for November were "running slightly below" sales a year ago with signs that buyers were returning to the smaller cars that gained ground earlier this year due to record-high gas prices.

Though September and October results showed a rebound for battered truck sales, Codina said the gains for trucks had faded based on preliminary sales results for November.

The short-lived move by buyers back into trucks this autumn appears to have been driven by inventory-clearing incentives on 2006 model-year vehicles, he said.

"I think there's a permanent shift to some degree to smaller cars and SUVs," Codina said.

Ford, like other Detroit automakers, relies on pickups and SUVs for the majority of its U.S. sales. As a result Ford, also like its Detroit rivals, is losing market share to Toyota, which analysts expect to claim the No. 2 worldwide ranking from Ford as soon as 2007.

Ford's U.S. sales slipped 7 percent in the first 10 months of 2006, while Toyota's sales rose 12 percent. Overall sales of cars and light trucks dropped by 3 percent in the same period.

Ford is set to introduce three new vehicles in the first quarter of next year: a new Super Duty pickup and redesigned versions of its Escape and Escape hybrid SUVs.

Codina said the new Super Duty would help Ford stave off the competitive threat from Toyota's Tundra when it starts shipping in the first quarter.

"There is nothing new on the Tundra that we don't have on our pickup truck that makes any real, substantial sense," he said.