Click on
to hear audio. Use right mouse click to download.
Ford total U.S. sales grew across the portfolio in October, with cars up 2 percent, utilities up 2 percent, F-Series pickups up 8 percent and Econoline and Transit Connect sales up 19 and 22 percent, respectively. Ford sales analyst Erich Merkle says we saw an interest in dichotomy during the month of October.
Click on to hear audio. Use right mouse click to download.
| Cut #1: | “We had a 54 percent gain in small fuel efficient vehicles, which would include, things like Fiesta, Focus and the C-MAX. On the other side of the spectrum, we also saw a tremendous pick-up truck month, F-series sales were up eight-percent, not only were they up 8 percent, but that was our best October since 2004.” :23 sec. |
| Hurricane Sandy also played a significant role in sales figures for all auto manufacturers, including Ford. | |
| Cut #2: | “We estimate that Sandy probably impacted Industry sales by about 20-25 thousand vehicles last month.” :08 sec. |
| Merkle explained why Ford sales were unchanged in October from a year ago, indicating Ford Ranger and Ford Crown Vic played a significant role in the bottom line which totaled 168,456 total vehicles sold last month. | |
| Cut #3: | “Well there’s a couple things at play, those items are Ranger, which some of the discontinued products that were with us last year, are no longer with us this year, so they show up in the year-over-year comparisons, that would include Ranger and also the Crown Victoria.” :16 sec. |
| Merkle went on to say that building stock with the all-new 2013 Ford Fusion will also make a difference in future monthly sales figures. | |
| Cut #4: | “So as we build that stock of the Fusion we would expect those sales to continue to work in our favor in the months to come.” :09 sec. |
| Merkle says their vehicle production goals for the fourth quarter, remain the same as they were a month ago. |