If you need to hear good news in America, you need only follow Ford. It was only a year ago we were reporting the continued slide of sales in the auto industry. We were looking at stock prices at Ford in terms of $1.50 a share, sales that were down in double digit percentages, and waves of employee buyouts.
In March of 2010 Ford is on a roll again reporting another month of sales increases and expanding market share. Yesterday the company reported an impressive 43% increase in sales for March. The stock price has been hovering between $13-14 pershare in the last month too.
The sales leaders are the Fusion which is up a staggering 79% over March of 2009 with over 22,773 units sold. The all new Ford Taurus is also a major hit without question selling 7001 copies in March, an 86% rise over a year ago. The success continues with full size trucks which finally have taken off again. The F-Series gained 30% in March with 42,514 units sold.
The Mustang has seen a welcome 57% increase in sales. Excitement is high for Mustang right now both due to pre-orders for the new 2011 models that include the more powerful 3.7 liter and 5.0 liter engines. But 2010 Mustangs are moving as well with incentives as high as $3000 to move them out.
Other new models contributing to Ford’s continued turnaround are the Ford Focus, Edge and Escape – all of which posted sales increases in excess of 50%. And amazingly enough, the Ford Explorer though long in its product cycle still saw a 78% increase in sales over March of last year.
While the economy continues to struggle, Ford’s success is a bright spot that gives us an indicator that there still is demand out there for products that people want. With truck sales on the rise, this can also be an indicator that construction and service industries are beginning to invest once again. Ford will also tell you that much of their increase in market share has to do with public sentiment over the fact they avoided bankruptcy and a government bailout.
Much of the credit to Ford’s recovering fortunes can be placed upon CEO Alan Mulally’s leadership which changed the paradigm when came aboard a few years ago. But the many people within Ford who worked harder. plowing through the smoke and brimstone of the difficult times have to be recognized as well. Because if it were not for all the exciting new products the company has gambled their remaining resources on, the story might well be different.
