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Anonymous ID: 36b7c9 Jan. 6, 2020, 6:40 a.m. No.7731203   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Ford U.S. sales fall 1.3% in fourth quarter

 

Ford Motor Co F.N reported a 1.3% fall in sales for the fourth quarter in the United States, hurt by declining sales of passenger cars. The No. 2 U.S. automaker said it sold 601,862 vehicles in the quarter, compared with 609,693 a year earlier.

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/ford-u.s.-sales-fall-1.3-in-fourth-quarter-2020-01-06

 

The Ugly Truth About Automakers' Sales Numbers-excerpt

 

It could be because of exorbitant sticker prices, but automobile sales are affected by economic fluctuations more than any other product. Stock drops and financial fears create a ripple effect that can halt production of an automobile model and sometimes wipe out entire lines. Automakers are in a constant struggle to keep sales numbers for every quarter as high as possible. For that reason, sometimes those numbers aren’t quite as straight forward as Americans think they are. n retail sales to individual customers at dealerships, the numbers reflect which vehicles are truly popular with consumers. John Krafcik, president of TrueCar, the car-shopping service, told Automotive News, “Retail is where you see who is really performing well in terms of winning customers.”

 

But automakers don’t only rely on retail sales for actual numbers. Companies often use fleet sales to manage fluctuations in demand and to cover up weaknesses in certain product lines.There are two kinds of fleet sales. The “good” fleet sales are those that are the bulk sales to corporate and government customers. These customers provide an acceptable profit margin and tend to keep vehicles in service for two to three years. These sales have minimal impact on residual values and retail prices of cars. The less desirable fleet sale is the rental fleet. Based on a report by Automotive News, about 10 years ago, automakers manufactured more cars than consumers were willing to buy.

 

Much of that excess was pushed into rental fleets. Those vehicles often remained in service only a few months before showing up at auctions and then onto pre-owned dealer lots. The eventual flood of slightly used cars pulled down the prices of new cars and diluted residual values. Based on too much capacity, small and midsize cars are under pressure of going to fleet because consumers are not currently buying these products. Those automakers that can balance business by using fleet sales, will probably continue to do that, despite what critics say. This means that the sales numbers that people see will continue to be skewed. Fleet sales are the dirty little secret behind sale numbers.

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/the-ugly-truth-about-automakers-sales-numbers/