Soundbites: May 2012 Sales

Ford Motor Company U.S. retail sales increased 12 percent in May of this year. A total of 216,267 vehicles were sold in May, a 13 percent increase versus year-ago levels. Ford Sales Analyst, Erich Merkle says sales gains were experienced across the board.

Click on to hear audio. Use right mouse click to download.

Cut #1:	"We had a very solid month with sales being up across all of our vehicles lines we look at cars, they were up 6 percent, utilities up 12 percent, and trucks improved a whopping 21 percent which is really great to see in the market." :16 sec.
	Merkle says in spite of high prices at the pump, America's top-selling vehicle for 30 years, the Ford F-Series pickup posted May sales of 54,836 pickups, a 29 percent increase versus last May.
Cut #2:	"If you take a look at the E-Series we delivered a 31 percent increase, last month over May of last year with 14,160 vans sold. Transit Connect had its best monthly sales performance ever with 3,937 vans sold, a 53 percent gain versus May of last year." :21 sec.
	Small cars also contributed to the 12 percent sales increase according to Merkle.
Cut #3:	"The Fusion posted its best May sales ever and its strongest-ever retail sales month – with sales up 9 percent at 26,857 vehicles. Focus was up 11 percent, with its strongest sales coming from California. Mustang and Taurus increased 58 and 9 percent, respectively, with the rollout of our new 2013 products leading the way." :27 sec.
	Merkle went on to say the company expects to meet high demand for vehicles by increasing their output by 5 percent in the third quarter.
Cut #4:	"Ford Motor company plans to build 690,000 vehicles in the third quarter, which would be up 5 percent (34,000 vehicles) from the third quarter 2011. Second quarter production of 730,000 vehicles is unchanged from the previous guidance. What's really interesting about the 3rd quarter production guidance is that, it's within our plan as we add 400-thousand units of straight line capacity, by the end of the year, so we continue to expand our production presents." :33 sec.
	Another promising sign was Explorer sales were up 10 percent – its best month since the current model was introduced.