Ford And Wagoner's GM Battle For Top Sales Spot

[Guest Josh]

NEW YORK - The beleaguered General Motors has been wading through huge losses and dismal sales statistics this year.

So there must have been a few feeble high-fives and pats on the back in the boardroom, with the news that Chevrolet is set to be nation's best-selling car brand at the end of the year. What must really get their spirits up: Chevy is set to snatch the title away from rival and the U.S.' No. 1 carmaker, Ford Motor. It'll apparently be the first time in 18 years that GM's Chief Executive G. Richard Wagoner Jr. doesn’t find, for a full year, his company playing second fiddle to Bill Ford Jr. and his empire at One America Road.

For the first ten months, Chevy reported sales of 2.26 million vehicles in the U.S., putting its total sales around 12,000 vehicles ahead of Ford. That seems like poetic justice, since only a year ago, Ford was 19,000 sales ahead of Chevrolet.

The battle lines are just being drawn, though. According to media reports, Ford has not given up the fight for the top spot and both companies are gearing up for a final push to capture the top sales title at the end of 2005.

Ford is apparently setting aggressive sales targets for the F-150 pickup, still the U.S.' best-selling vehicle.

Full Story From Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/2005/11/08/ford-gm-s...l

[network engineer]

Setting agressive sales targets is nice. Achieving them is great. With the awesome new fusion and Milan, Ford just may have what it takes to get those 12000 cars back.

[network engineer]

I worry about this final push for 2005 sales. Is it going to amount to a garage sale like it was before with the discounts and employee pricing?

[post="40606"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

I can't see any other way for GM to get rid of the remaining 2005 vehicle inventory. GM has many cars that are as good as the competition, some are better. Other manufacturer's, however, have better reputations and are continuing to conquest sales. GM is making a mistake, by bringing back incentives. They need to deal with the initial shock and get back to selling cars on their merrits not on their cheap price. Edited November 9, 2005 by network engineer

[Cadillacfan]

Did you just respond to a quote of yourself? hmmm.... Anyway. The difference between Chevy and Ford is that Chevy has more new and up to date vehicles when compared to Ford. The only "new" products they have are the Fusion, 500, Freestyle, and Mustang. The Mustang and Fusion are the only vehicles actually selling. The rest of the brand consists of one compact car, one minivan and two small volume niche vehicles. Ford gets the bulk of it's sales from it's Trucks and SUVs just like Chevy, but they didn't fill out the car line and it's really hurting them with the new gas crunch. They still don't offer a sub-compact car in the US, and the Focus is becoming increasingly outdated in comparison to it's competitors. The Fusion will help a bit, but it's one car for the brand. Ford needs a multi-vehicle assault on the market to keep from sinking. I'll give Ford thumbs up for developing the Escape Hybrid, but typical Toyota, they take all the credit for having Hybrids.

[CARBIZ]

This may sound like good news for Chevrolet, but I can't help but wonder that while GM and Ford duke it out, Toyota is just circling for the kill. GM needs to forget about Ford and focus on Toyota for a change. Although Chevy and Ford have enjoyed "friendly" rivalry for more than 75 years, Toyota's intensions are pretty clear - and they aren't playing by the same rules as Detoit!

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

Oh wait... I thought Toyota was the top seller in America? At least according to the media when they spin the numbers to include Sky-on (Scion) I want to give a big "who cares?" to this issue. I mean it's nice to have the title, but unless either company can sustain it without adding HUGE incentives, it's just another way to spin numbers and sell out the company... All the while GM and Ford are blindly battling themselves, the japanese are moving in for the kill.

[cmattson]

Did you just respond to a quote of yourself? hmmm....

For some reason, I find that ridiculously funny.

[Polish_Kris]

All the while GM and Ford are blindly battling themselves, the japanese are moving in for the kill.

[post="40716"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

That's true

[network engineer]

heh. I meant to respond to wildmanjoe's comment. Frankly, though, I agree with FOG. GM and Ford should give a crap about each other. They should be determined to smoke Toyota together, even if it means that one or the other has to loose focus of being the #1 american car manufacturer.

[daves87rs]

heh.  I meant to respond to wildmanjoe's comment.  Frankly, though, I agree with FOG.  GM and Ford should give a crap about each other.  They should be determined to smoke Toyota together, even if it means that one or the other has to loose focus of being the #1 american car manufacturer.

[post="40834"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Now if they could do it, now that would br a story...

[Northstar]

Ford has the Fusion, but also keep in mind Chevy has the new Impala and HHR that it didn't have running at full strength earlier in the year. However, the Tahoe might suffer because of lack of supply (change over to the 07), so that could set Chevy back. Should be an interesting race.

[jmore1276]

I wonder if GM and Ford will ever merge? They could probably do it leagally now that their combined market share is less than 50%(in the US anyway). Atleast they are working together on new technolgy like the 6 speed FWD transmisions. A mustang with the LS7...oooohh :P