Ford News: Weak Inventory Pushed Ford's Market Share Down

[William Maley]

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

May 29, 2012

In the first quarter of 2012, Ford saw its market share drop 1.4 points. The reason: not enough inventory.

"The market got a little bit ahead of us," said Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas. “Most of our production actions and capacity increases take place in the second half of this year.”

Ford plans on boosting production at several of its vehicle assembly plants to counter what it says were weak dealer inventories during the first quarter of 2012. The plan includes trimming the summer shutdown period for plants and have three shifts running at Hermosillo, Mexico, assembly plant, later this year when the new Fusion goes on sale.

Ford expects the production increases to result in an additional 400,000 vehicles through the rest of 2012. However, Ford does concede that it will still probably lose some market share this year. So far this year, Ford has had a 15.4% share of the U.S. industry, a drop from its 16.8% share last year.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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