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Ford Motor Company September 2011 Sales


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It's amazing to me that Ford is repeating the same problems that plagued the first Focus. Fortunately, quality isn't quite the recall disaster...yet anyway.

No, this is a completely different problem stemming from supplier issues

 

The product's quality is not in question and has nothing to do with a basic fault in design as was the case with US C170 Focus launch.

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Ford September 2011 Call Transcript. It's a very long transcript, so I will not post the text here. Please click on the link. In the same link, there is also a Q&A tab with Wall Street analysts that has some additional text.

 

http://seekingalpha.com/article/297303-ford-motor-co-sep-2011-sales-trading-statement-call-oct-03-2011

Edited by move4ward
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Ford September 2011 Call Transcript. It's a very long transcript, so I will not post the text here. Please click on the link. In the same link, there is also a Q&A tab with Wall Street analysts that has some additional text.

 

http://seekingalpha.com/article/297303-ford-motor-co-sep-2011-sales-trading-statement-call-oct-03-2011

 

Thanks for posting that. I didn't get a chance to listen in today. Sounds like October should be a much better month for the Focus.

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Thanks for posting that. I didn't get a chance to listen in today. Sounds like October should be a much better month for the Focus.

 

I fiund Ken Czubay's comments about focus very interesting

 

 

Nationally, Focus sales were a little lower than a year ago as inventories were tight in September compared to year-ago levels. That continued as we made the transition from the previous model to this model. The good news is retail sales of our new Ford Focus were up 30% in California versus September 2010 volumes. And compared to August, September Focus sales in our San Francisco region were up 45%. Our L.A. region led with being up 53%. The state of California, the largest car market in America, posted a 50% increase month-over-month, bringing us new customers and helping further strengthen Ford on the coast. I've talked about that the last few calls. Between Fiesta, Focus and Fusion, we are incredibly reestablishing the Ford brand on the coast and especially in California.

 

So importantly, California customers are rewarding us for investing in new technology. They love the technologies and fuel-efficient powertrains, driving transaction prices for Focus higher than the prior model.

 

 

 

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10,309 Focuses? Really Ford? What the heck is the story with this thing? Are you freaking shipping ANY of these to dealers???

 

Absolutely gangbusters month for F-series though. :happy feet:

 

 

There was a supply issue wirh parts. Reason why the Cruze is out selling the Focus and a few other cars.

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Only if you've got 40,000 units of inventory.

 

But what are the inventory levels on the Focus? Ford reported that they would be producing 25K units for the Focus following last month's decline. The problem got even worse this month!

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But what are the inventory levels on the Focus? Ford reported that they would be producing 25K units for the Focus following last month's decline. The problem got even worse this month!

 

Keep in mind though how the flow of newly-produced vehicles works...

- Car is produced , rolls off line into staging lot at factory.

- After the group of cars is released from the factory and the region-specific shipment is large enough, the truckload is sent to a regional staging lot. (Columbus-area shipments are first processed in Cincinnati, for example)

- Once a large enough shipment is ready to head to a specific area, they are shipped from the staging lot to dealers.

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Keep in mind though how the flow of newly-produced vehicles works...

- Car is produced , rolls off line into staging lot at factory.

- After the group of cars is released from the factory and the region-specific shipment is large enough, the truckload is sent to a regional staging lot. (Columbus-area shipments are first processed in Cincinnati, for example)

- Once a large enough shipment is ready to head to a specific area, they are shipped from the staging lot to dealers.

 

The Focus inventories levels appear to be excellent at the moment, that's why I'm wondering. All my Ford dealerships are flush with the new Focus. I don't believe the inventory claims right now.

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The Focus inventories levels appear to be excellent at the moment, that's why I'm wondering. All my Ford dealerships are flush with the new Focus. I don't believe the inventory claims right now.

 

"Appear to be excellent" where? In Michigan, where the car is built? How long was that inventory there? What are Nationwide inventory levels like?

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Remember, Job 1 for the Focus was in January. Here it is, October, and they still have production problems. Again, no excuse.

 

And in case you think I'm anti-Focus, I took delivery of a new 2012 Focus SEL in mid-August.

Edited by mackinaw
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Poor...went by the Anderson, SC dealer the other day....one...just one...on the lot. Thats one Focus for around 100,000 people.

 

Same here. Blackwell Ford that is about 8 miles from MAP has NONE in stock. Bill Brown Ford, one of the biggest Ford dealers in Nation has at most 5-6 Focuses on lot. Ditto for Fiesta. Blackwell has ONE and Bill Brown TWO. There is big Ford dealer right across the street from MAP and its stock is not much better. There is big time shortage of small Ford cars nationwide. Only the Fusion has good inventory levels. I don't know what's up with the low Fiesta levels all summer as that plant has been up for about two years now. With fuel prices dropping like rock, maybe inventory levels for Focus and

Fiesta will improve significantly and incentives will start to be better. I know GM's Lorrain, OH plant that makes the Cruze runs three shifts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Current Drives:

 

2002 Matador Red Ford Taurus SES Sport

2001 Orient Red Metallic Porsche Boxster

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I know when my mom bought a Focus a couple weeks ago it was difficult to find a Focus. Either the dealers had no SEL, no Focus at all, Focus but only SE, or SEL but not with the right options. SEL hatchbacks were hard to find. A couple of the dealers had no Focus or Escape (we were originally looking at another Escape) inventory because it was damaged in the flood/hurrcane. Blue Focuses were hard to find. I expanded the search and finally found a dealer that had what we were looking for, but upon arrival this Focus sold the day before. They had a matching one just like it, but not in the color she wanted. She decided to go with it and sacrifice on the color. From my experience the Focus is not easy to find. There are lots of SE's out there. But not many SEL hatchbacks. The 4 closest Ford dealers to me have only 3 SEL hatchbacks between the 4 of them.

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Czubay's just trying to put a positive spin and what was a truly terrible sales month for the Focus. 10,300 units is an embarrassment, no other way to cut it.

 

How is 10,300 units a disaster?

Everyone of them sold for a profit with very little if any incentives.....

 

Ford also had a huge month in Crossovers and SUVs and the F150 sold its head off,

and total sales were close to 180,000 which is an outstanding month....

 

Cruze may have beaten Focus but Fusion Boxed Malibu's ears good and proper...

Edited by jpd80
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The local dealer where I just moved to that I drive past going into work has 3-4 Foci, about the same number of Explorers, Tauri and Mustangs on his lot...this is the most full I've seen his lot since I started working down here last November. There is about 300-400K people between the two counties I work/live in in MD and at least 4 Ford dealerships within 25 miles of one another.

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Of course I am in South Dakota so we don't have a lot of population, but so far the only Focuses I have seen out in the wild have a bar code on them. I do believe that low inventory is still causing problems, but I still wonder how many come in to buy a Focus and end up driving out in a Fusion? I would have thought that Focus would draw away from the Fusion, but the Fusion continues to do very well. In the end it doesn't matter because a sale is a sale.

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"Appear to be excellent" where? In Michigan, where the car is built? How long was that inventory there? What are Nationwide inventory levels like?

 

Like I mentioned earlier, my friend who bought a Focus last week went to look at the local Koons Ford dealer in Annapolis and they had ZERO SEL's on the lot. They were unloading ONE from a truck when she got there to look at them. She bought that one, so they were right back to zero again.

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Remember, Job 1 for the Focus was in January. Here it is, October, and they still have production problems. Again, no excuse.

 

And in case you think I'm anti-Focus, I took delivery of a new 2012 Focus SEL in mid-August.

 

I don't think anyone is saying they don't have a production issue. That certainly needs to be addressed. I think what most of us are saying is that it's not having a sales issue.

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It's the demand for My Ford Touch and all the other gizmos and the Japan quake too.

But then Ford can't go back to the days of $3500 rebates to move compact cars, it hurts resale, image, and profits.

 

Cruz is selling good, but it's really a Corolla clone, to me.

Edited by 630land
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