Ford News: Ford Ends National Advertising For Most of Their Cars

[William Maley]

With Ford planning on dropping most of its cars except for one, the automaker is making changes to its advertising strategy, Automotive News is reporting that Ford has ended nationwide marking for the Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, and Taurus. The company is also dialing back spending in certain regions. Mark LaNeve, Ford's vice president of U.S. marketing, sales, and service tells AN that the money will be used on the Mustang, EcoSport, and new models coming in the pipeline.

"It allows us to focus our resources. If we can take that money from sedans, where we have a middle-of-the-road position, to be the leading brand in SUVs, that'd be a really good position," said LaNeve.

According to executives, deciding to end sales of most their car lineup was the right move, sighting August sales numbers as an example. Sales of Ford cars dropped 21 percent last month. Meanwhile, pickup and van sales rose 5.9 percent, and utilities increased 20 percent.

Ford has already stopped production of the North American Focus, and will end Fiesta and Taurus production by the middle of next year. The Fusion will have a slow death as executives say the model will stick around for a couple more years. The lack of national ads will likely hurt sales, LaNeve said the company would support dealers by offering various incentives on the model.

"Obviously, we can't let the dealers just sit on the inventory. We'll keep them competitive on incentives, but we're certainly not spending money there in a way where we'd be driving the market. We're accepting the share we've got."

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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