FORDS BIG CHANGE....expected, but wow!

Mr_Q · Jul 21, 2008

In reversal, Ford veers from SUV's - International Herald Tribune

No mention of mustang or anything.

Five Oh Brian · Jul 22, 2008

Mustang is middle-ground, so it wasn't mentioned in that article of polar opposites (big trucks & suv's vs small cars). Mustang sales are down a bit this year, but not unexpected in a body style that is now in its 5th year. The 2010 refresh and new powerplants should help, and a major overhaul in the 2013 model year will hopefully spark a new wave of buyers.

I work at a big volume Ford dealership. Our #1 seller now is the Focus, followed closely by the Mustang and Fusion. The Escape and Edge sell well, too, and we're always sold out of hybrids (Escapes and Mariners) due to crazy demand. Ford is doing a great job shifting from trucks and SUV's to small cars in the short run, and we already see a big difference in the orders they're filling for us and shipping. It'll only get better as more models (from Europe) arrive to add to the offering at the local Ford and Mercury franchises.

We still gotta unload a bunch of idle trucks and SUV's, though. We used to sell 30-40 new F-series trucks per month and typically had a 2-3 month supply in stock, but now we sell less than 10 per month - even at employee pricing and record rebates. With 140+ on our lot, that's over a year's supply! And with the new '09 F-150 coming soon, who's gonna buy leftover '08's? Ford and its dealers are gonna bleed bad to move out remaining new '08 trucks. I checked on the rebate for a new '08 Lincoln LT pickup (F-150 in Lincoln guise), and it's $10,250 for me currently (factory rebate and owner loyalty rebate). Plus the huge discounts to unload these and they can be had for about $15K below MSRP with few buyers considering them. Crazy!

Mr_Q · Jul 22, 2008

Five Oh Brian said:
Mustang is middle-ground, so it wasn't mentioned in that article of polar opposites (big trucks & suv's vs small cars). Mustang sales are down a bit this year, but not unexpected in a body style that is now in its 5th year. The 2010 refresh and new powerplants should help, and a major overhaul in the 2013 model year will hopefully spark a new wave of buyers.

I work at a big volume Ford dealership. Our #1 seller now is the Focus, followed closely by the Mustang and Fusion. The Escape and Edge sell well, too, and we're always sold out of hybrids (Escapes and Mariners) due to crazy demand. Ford is doing a great job shifting from trucks and SUV's to small cars in the short run, and we already see a big difference in the orders they're filling for us and shipping. It'll only get better as more models (from Europe) arrive to add to the offering at the local Ford and Mercury franchises.

We still gotta unload a bunch of idle trucks and SUV's, though. We used to sell 30-40 new F-series trucks per month and typically had a 2-3 month supply in stock, but now we sell less than 10 per month - even at employee pricing and record rebates. With 140+ on our lot, that's over a year's supply! And with the new '09 F-150 coming soon, who's gonna buy leftover '08's? Ford and its dealers are gonna bleed bad to move out remaining new '08 trucks. I checked on the rebate for a new '08 Lincoln LT pickup (F-150 in Lincoln guise), and it's $10,250 for me currently (factory rebate and owner loyalty rebate). Plus the huge discounts to unload these and they can be had for about $15K below MSRP with few buyers considering them. Crazy!

i am so glad to hear that ford is finally doing what fans and the motoring press have been saying for the last 5 years! bring over the sporty, well featured, compact euro cars.

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DarkFireGT · Jul 23, 2008

You know, Brian, you're making it real tempting to go trade in the Explorer on a F150 or a LT. We'll wait a few months and see what other deals come about. Last year at this time, we bought the Explorer, then they doubled the rebates 2 weeks later.

stanmckinney · Jul 23, 2008

Have you see the truck Ford builds in Australia? I'd buy one, for a good price, today.

V8JamesGT · Jul 23, 2008

The Ford Explorer/Sport-Trac plant here in my home town of louisville, KY is one of the ones switching to the production of smaller cars. I'm just happy to see that the plant isnt closing and people will not lose their jobs.

Five Oh Brian · Jul 28, 2008

DarkFireGT said:
You know, Brian, you're making it real tempting to go trade in the Explorer on a F150 or a LT. We'll wait a few months and see what other deals come about. Last year at this time, we bought the Explorer, then they doubled the rebates 2 weeks later.

Problem is, you're gonna take a huge hit if you were trade in (or try to sell) your Explorer as it's not just new rigs that are being cheap-sold. The demand for used trucks and SUV's has tumbled badly, as well.

For example, a year ago I bought my wife a used Mercury Mountaineer AWD V8 that had just 30K miles on it. Super loaded up with most factory options (MSRP was over $40K new). We bought it used for $19K with warranty still left on it - which was approximately the wholesale auction value at that time. That was a screaming deal a year ago. I just checked Kelly Blue Book's trade-in value for it last week (tempted to trade-in for a new F-150) and it is only $8K to $9K with just 36K miles on it! There's no way I'm gonna take that kind of hit, even though the new F-150 deals are currently about $8K to $14K off original MSRP (depending on equipment and after rebates).

My advice: wait a few months to see if used SUV & truck values settle down and get back to reality, as they are way off base currently.

FORDS BIG CHANGE....expected, but wow!

Mr_Q

Five Oh Brian

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Mr_Q

DarkFireGT

Playing with my wife's really makes me want one.

stanmckinney

V8JamesGT

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FORDS BIG CHANGE....expected, but wow!

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