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Fusion Making Production Moves to Challenge Camry


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So what do you do when a vehicle like Fusion is selling so well with higher ATPs than Camry?

Ford is clearly inventory constrained, so adding production will only benefit the bottom line.

Ford's sales guys must know that demand for the Fusion is high and can support extra production. I don't think they'd tool up Flat Rock just to sell the cars to Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, and Budget.

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As much as I'd like to see the Fusion take the "car" sales crown, I'm equally happy thinking of every bit of Fusion success that comes at the expense of Camrys, Accords, and Altimas. If it never quite takes the crown, that matters less than the Fusion blowing steady holes in the sales of all its competitors.

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Ford's sales guys must know that demand for the Fusion is high and can support extra production. I don't think they'd tool up Flat Rock just to sell the cars to Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, and Budget.

Don't be so sure,

The understanding these days is that daily rentals are now ordering vehicles more in align with retail customers,

hence the residual values of Fusion are much better these days. Fleet sales are averaging around 32% cross

all Ford's monthly sales, so clearly Ford makes good money on fleet sales too..

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Don't be so sure,

The understanding these days is that daily rentals are now ordering vehicles more in align with retail customers,

hence the residual values of Fusion are much better these days. Fleet sales are averaging around 32% cross

all Ford's monthly sales, so clearly Ford makes good money on fleet sales too..

 

That doesn't mean that Ford will run a plant only to sell to the rental companies. They've been there before.

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That doesn't mean that Ford will run a plant only to sell to the rental companies. They've been there before.

No, what I said was that daily rentals/fleet vehicle purchases are now more aligned with retail buyers

what we're talking about here is overcoming inventory volume constraints so that everyone has more access.

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No, what I said was that daily rentals/fleet vehicle purchases are now more aligned with retail buyers

 

 

Ford was pushing rental companies to do this, no more stripper cars with just AC and an automatic in them. I had a Flex rental a few years ago and it was very nice for a rental car!

 

IIRC I think Rental companies are keeping cars longer too...

 

The US used market is more or less insane now for pricing vs what it was 5-7 years ago. Between the economy (people keeping cars longer) and cash for clunkers, the avg price of a used car has gone up considerably. Gone are the days you can get a decent car for 2500 bucks. I have a cousin of mine in college that had her Saturn totalled out (got sandwiched in between two cars, not her fault) and her mom and dad can't find a decent car for under 5K for her..

 

Heck my '06 Mustang GT with nearly 120K is worth about $9-11K still...

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No, what I said was that daily rentals/fleet vehicle purchases are now more aligned with retail buyers

what we're talking about here is overcoming inventory volume constraints so that everyone has more access.

Yeah, but his specific statement that you quoted in your reply was

I don't think they'd tool up Flat Rock just to sell the cars to Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, and Budget.

You're both saying the same thing, so I'm not sure why you're arguing about it... ;)

Edited by SoonerLS
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So what do you do when a vehicle like Fusion is selling so well with higher ATPs than Camry?

 

Fix the quality control problems that have bedeviled that Ford product! To its credit, FoMoCo committed to doing just that. Hopefully, Ford is applying lessons learned from its botched new vehicle launches as Fusion production commences at Flat Rock Assembly Plant.

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See, BON can have a discussion were everybody wins.. :)

 

We are both saying the same thing, Ford isn't in the market of selling low or no profit strippers to daily rentals

but what they do is sell around 25-30% of Fusion to those companies with trim levels similar to retail customers.

Fleet sales can be good for business if the deals are done correctly to add profit, not hide excess production.

Edited by jpd80
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Fix the quality control problems that have bedeviled that Ford product! To its credit, FoMoCo committed to doing just that. Hopefully, Ford is applying lessons learned from its botched new vehicle launches as Fusion production commences at Flat Rock Assembly Plant.

I wonder about that, Hermosillo and Louisville have been going flat out to keep up with demand,

I can't help wondering if that is causing a lot of problems with volume taking priority over quality checks

I know it shouldn't be but I think we can imagine the pressure to get those vehicles out the door.

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