Ford Trucks See Lift and Shift From Cash for Clunkers

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One of the unsung — and probably counterintuitive -- winners in last month’s Cash for Clunkers program was Ford’s truck lineup, according to Doug Scott, Ford’s truck and SUV marketing manager. And while sales jumped this summer, Scott doesn’t see a return to the pickup heyday for quite a while to come.

Not surprisingly, the biggest change was in truck buyers, who Scott says were more price-sensitive than truck buyers before C4C. They drove the biggest shifts for F-150 and Ranger:

•Ford F-150: Pre-Clunkers, SuperCrew sales were from as much as 65% of sales. During Clunkers, SuperCrew volume dropped to around 57% of sales – a roughly 8-point shift. Scott says that shift was split about evenly between an increase in regular and SuperCab (extended cab) sales. There was a similar shift in sales of 4WD and 2WD trucks, with 2WD sales rising to roughly 50% of F-150s from as low as 42%, and 4WD sales shrinking to 50% from around 57%.

•Ford Ranger: Ranger sales in August were up 57% from a year earlier and Scott says there’s only a seven-day supply on dealer lots currently. The most popular powertrain option was the four-cylinder engine, which saw a 10% bump in popularity (to 70%) during C4C. Sales of six-cylinder motors fell to 30%.

•Super Duty: Scott says Super Duty sales were softer than normal throughout July and August.

“We knew going in Super Duty wasn’t going to stand to benefit as much because of the expected lift for small cars and SUVs,” said Scott.

Scott says he also thinks Ford has yet to see the bump to Super Duty sales that was expected from the government’s $787 billion fiscal and infrastructure stimulus package passed earlier this year.
What happens next? Scott expects September to be a tough month compared to July and August.

“I think you’re going to have payback,” Scott said. “There’s no question about that. It’s the magnitude of the payback that’s going to be tough to get our arms around. It was hard to establish what the impact of Clunkers was going to be going in” and it’s going to be tough seeing the next few months as well.

“We still expect the full-size pickup market to account for 11% to 12% of the industry,” Scott said, “and we expect volume to be higher than it was in the first part of the year, but not dramatically higher.”

But Scott says Ford definitely doesn’t see trucks returning to their peak sales days in 2004 and 2005 for a long time, if ever.

“We think that by 2013-14 we’ll see full-size trucks return to 2 million units in sales,” said Scott. “That’s still below their performance a few years ago.”

I agree and I personally think that with the current economy and with the gas prices and the energy crisis I don't think trucks with ever be as popular as they once where!!

FaselZ71 wrote:

with the current economy and with the gas prices and the energy crisis I don't think trucks with ever be as popular as they once where!!

I hope your wrong...

3rd.

i dont know about you guys but i see alot of new ford and chevy trucks in my neighborhood... but then again... 80% of the houses here have atleast 1 truck parked in its driveway... i have 7 parked in my driveway between me and my father in law... well 5 of mine are parked at my shop now but you get the picture.. lol...

FaselZ71 wrote:

with the current economy and with the gas prices and the energy crisis I don't think trucks with ever be as popular as they once where!!

i think that's 100% wrong.. most guys who own trucks will swear by their trucks. pick ups are needed for god knows how many businesses and all sorts of personal uses. the pick-up truck will always be a hugely popular thing