Soundbites: April 2011 Sales
Consumer demand for Ford’s fuel-efficient vehicles continues to grow, with April sales increasing 16 percent versus a year ago according to Ford sales Analyst George Pipas.
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| Cut #1: |
"More than 80% of consumers have altered or changed their vehicle purchase, the type of vehicle their purchasing because of higher gasoline prices and we're seeing this in the market place with strong sales of small cars and also more fuel efficient powertrains, engines and transmissions." :20 sec
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And contrary to what you might believe or imagine, these skyrocketing gasoline prices have not dampened the sales of trucks and SUV's. |
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| Cut #2: |
"Not to any great extent yet. At least at Ford we're helped by the fact that we've got some exciting fuel economy improvements in products like the Explorer and the F-Series. The Explorer fuel economy is 25% better than the old model, offers consumers 25 mpg highway when they go on family trips." 23 sec.
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Explorer sales totaled 12,593 vehicles, up 138 percent and for the fourth straight month, continues to be the fastest-turning vehicle in the showroom, leading Pipas to say he expects sales to continue to grow, but moderate if gasoline prices continue to increase. |
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| Cut #3: |
"So I think that our sales are going to continue to grow, but I think it could affect the rate of growth, that said we still believe that full-year Industry sales in the United States will be in the 13 to 13 in half-million range, despite the issues that have been encountered in Japan for the industry as well as high gasoline prices." :24 sec.
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While the F-series continues to be Ford's best seller, cars sales are increasing by the day. |
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| Cut #4: |
"The cars are growing as each month passes, Fiesta had another sales month with over 9.,000, the new Focus model helped elevate Focus sales by 22% in the month and we definitely saw as availability improve, as we progressed through the month that our sales rate and our performance against our objectives increased everyday." :25 sec.
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So in April sales were 189,778, up 16 percent. Pipas also pointed out the trend seen in the first quarter, with the largest increase in retail sales for Ford brand was in California, where the new Fiesta, Focus and Explorer are attracting new customers. Ford brand retail sales were up 34-percent in California and up 37-percent year-to-date. |
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