Jump to content

Ford March 2018 Sales Up 3.4% Overall; Lincoln Down 2.1%


Recommended Posts

http://s22.q4cdn.com/857684434/files/doc_news/2018/04/March-2018-Sales-Final.pdf

 

hhGfe8m.jpg

Dd3Y1Hg.jpg

lEvHeMY.jpg

 

Edge is up.

 

F-series still going strong - 87K for March!

 

Lincoln stopped the bleeding of the first two months, only down 2.1%, but that's entirely due to Navigator up 90.7% to 1,711 units. Everything else was down (except bizarrely MKT).

Edited by rmc523
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Navigator's doing great! Nice to see Lincoln re-selling over 9000 cars a month. MKZ is bleeding and needs to change fast, especially that 2013 rear

 

In my opinion, the MKZ (or whatever they are going to call it) needs the 2.3 as base engine, 3.0 top engine and plug hybrid option. Needed the 8 speed yesterday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fusion down big time but all midsized sedans are getting killed out there, the new accord is down 10%, the brand redesigned new Camry is down over 1%, Nissan sedans also got squashed. Trucks, CUVs and SUVs are carrying the weight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fusion down big time but all midsized sedans are getting killed out there, the new accord is down 10%, the brand redesigned new Camry is down over 1%, Nissan sedans also got squashed.

 

Yes sir. All non-luxury midsize sedans except Chevy Malibu were down in sales last month. Some are doing a lot worse than others. Here are March 2018 sales (not DSR adjusted) for each midsize sedan model in the U.S.

 

1. Toyota Camry, 35,264, down 1%

2. Honda Accord, 24,171, down 10%

3. Nissan Altima, 23,518, down 17.5%

4. Ford Fusion, 16,103, down 14%

5. Chevrolet Malibu, 14,707, up 3%

6. Hyundai Sonata, 11,098, down 27%

7. Kia Optima, 8,010, down 21.5%

8. Volkswagen Passat, 4,292, down 31.5%

9. Subaru Legacy, 3,889, down 21%

10. Mazda 6, 3,734, down 2%

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who is going to pull the plug on their mid size sedan offering next? What we are seeing here is consumers tastes and preferences changing due to the amount of available vehicles to choose from CUV/SUV/Trucks are winning. Sedans and small hatchbacks are not. I doubt this market will go away but it looks like the tea leaves are saying it's going to shrink a lot (probably much like coupes).

Edited by jcartwright99
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of note, Forf again compensating for sales losses in cars with increases in Utilities and Trucks.

Ford's sales may be effectively flat when selling days are taken into accoint but there's no denying

that it is seeing a richer sales mix than last year.

 

Also, head of Lincoln Dealer council said that around 60% of Navigator's sales growth is coming from

former Cadillac owners trading in their vehicles, the remaining 40% coming from other brands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like Ford will pull the plug on Fusion at least temporarily to make room in Mexico for new vehicles. I don’t think it will be permanent though.

 

And with the imports I wonder if their global sales still support midsizers even though the US market is shrinking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like Ford will pull the plug on Fusion at least temporarily to make room in Mexico for new vehicles. I don’t think it will be permanent though.

 

And with the imports I wonder if their global sales still support midsizers even though the US market is shrinking.

 

From indications from Ford and other car makers, CUVs are starting to take hold in China now also.

 

Smaller Hatchbacks are the bread and butter in the EU and they seem to have latched onto the CUV craze too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like Ford will pull the plug on Fusion at least temporarily to make room in Mexico for new vehicles. I don’t think it will be permanent though.

 

And with the imports I wonder if their global sales still support midsizers even though the US market is shrinking.

 

Mazda6 and Fusion are the main imports among midsize sedans in the U.S., as all of them come from Japan (Mazda) or Mexico (Ford). Also, a few Optimas and Sonatas are sourced from South Korea (including all hybrid and PHEV models), but most sold in the U.S. are domestic.

 

All four have a decent if not huge sales volume outside the U.S. And they have all been refreshed recently. 2018 for Mazda6 and Sonata, 2019 for Fusion and Optima. I think all of them will still available as new cars at the beginning of the next decade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fusion and Focus each at over 16,000 is still substantial #'s, I believe only F Series (astounding #'s maybe they should just build that.....) Explorer and Escape do better. As to MKZ it -2% is better than Fusion's numbers so I guess the more substantial front refresh is helping.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like Ford will pull the plug on Fusion at least temporarily to make room in Mexico for new vehicles. I dont think it will be permanent though.

And with the imports I wonder if their global sales still support midsizers even though the US market is shrinking.

With a larger Focus, theres an opportunity for ford to roll up fusion and Taurus into one vehicle that covers both,

That added volume and richer sales mix might now become way more attractive to Ford, especially if it also means

that Hermosillo gets freed up for mass production of new desirable utilities, this could be a giant win- win on several levels

Edited by jpd80
Link to comment
Share on other sites

According to an ex BON poster, all that's needed to lift car sales is "redesigns every 4 years", and higher gas taxes.

 

But what would be the excuse for low Accord sales and more SUV's selling in EU?

Edited by 630land
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Farley recently said that the transition to Crossovers/SUVs is happening even quicker in China than in the US. It's really hard to know where Ford stands on its next-gen sedans when there is so much decline in that business, they might not have a clear forecast on that market so they've had no choice to delay or stall. Either way the Focus is going on a 1-year hiatus and move to Chinese production, all of which is going to significantly shrink that business.

 

Fusion is going to run into a similar scenario where neglect will largely doom that customer so time is basically running out. Shrinking and less profitable sales are unavoidable in those segments so perhaps sitting back while the market stabilizes will also give them time to transition those customers or develop an appropriate replacement.

 

I think it's important to highlight that profitable sedan sales are the biggest problem, volume might be there but profitable volume may not be, especially if the cars were designed to sell at higher margins when the market was very different. So that might be Ford's hang up now and moving forward.

 

They also have to sort out their factor capacity which could also force their decision making like we saw at FCA.

Edited by Assimilator
Link to comment
Share on other sites

According to an ex BON poster, all that's needed to lift car sales is "redesigns every 4 years", and higher gas taxes.

But what would be the excuse for low Accord sales and more SUV's selling in EU?

Japanese cars are not that popular in Europe anyway

Edited by jpd80
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...