Ford to Buck its Own Trend, Raise Incentives

At a meeting earlier this month, Ford told many of its dealers that it would raise incentives to help move key vehicles in certain markets. The company wants to keep demand strong for vehicles like its iconic F-150 — even while a redesigned model is coming in the fall — and in so doing hold onto its declining market share. Ford’s market share has been shrinking steadily over the past decade and now stands at around 15.8%.

This goes against Ford’s own business plan as of late, which has been to focus on becoming a more profitable automobile manufacturer even if that means fewer incentives. This January, Ford spent $3,182 per unit in incentives, which is down $659 from a year ago.

All the same, with these new incentives in play, it probably wouldn’t hurt prospective car-buyers to take a look at their local Ford dealer. We’ll keep track of the new deals when they’re announced.

Ford Plans to Pump Up Incentives (Detroit News)

Comments

[Jack]

I'm glad Ford is reaping what they have sowed. I'll never forget when our Explorer and Taurus both lost their transmissions within six months of one another. The Explorer was out of warranty two months, but 17,000 miles under the mileage cap. The Taurus was seven months out of warranty, but only had 21,000 miles on the odometer. I pleaded my case to two dealers and to Ford Corporate and was told to go pound sand. We went from a Ford family in 2005/2006 to a all Honda family. I estimate that since then I probably have influenced 6-8 auto purchases among friends and family, most of which resulted in Honda and Toyota purchases, zero for Ford.

I'd love to see someone dope slap Bill Ford Jr. Even though he no longer runs the day to day operations, he's a major reason why Ford is in the position they're in. Ford is a pig with lipstick.