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Lifer
Is the mighty Ford F-150 pickup truck in danger of losing its longtime sales crown?
Helped by General Motors Corp.'s popular employee-style discounts, the Chevrolet Silverado surged past the F-150 in June by a wide margin and set a new monthly record for big pickup sales -- 109,359 units.
And for the year, the Silverado trails the F-150 pickup in sales by just 23,526 units -- raising the stakes in one of Detroit's longest and most closely watched product rivalries.
Now Ford is rallying dealers to set a new monthly record in July for the F-150 pickup.
Ford had held the record for monthly full-size pickup truck sales since October 2001, when it sold 102,424 F-150 models during the auto industry's sales blitz following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The F-150 has been the nation's top-selling light vehicle for 28 consecutive years and is Ford's most profitable vehicle line. With losses mounting in North America, it is making a renewed effort to revive F-150 sales that have dropped 6 percent this year.
"We want to re-establish a new full-size pickup monthly sales record with over 110,000 F-series sales in July," Ford Division President Daryl Hazel told dealers in a letter last week. "It is essential that we close the month strong and report all F-series sales."
The heightened sales race has produced a major pricing war between Chevrolet and Ford, while undermining profitability at GM. and Ford.
The average transaction price of a 2005 Silverado 1500 pickup has dropped 3 percent from $25,004 in January to $24,193 in June, according to Edmunds.com, an online shopping guide. Average F-150 prices have dropped 2 percent since January, to $25,799 last month.
The raft of new discounts by Detroit and other automakers is expected to push July's new car and truck sales to a four-year high. Major automakers will report July sales on Tuesday. http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0507/31/D01-264357.htm
Helped by General Motors Corp.'s popular employee-style discounts, the Chevrolet Silverado surged past the F-150 in June by a wide margin and set a new monthly record for big pickup sales -- 109,359 units.
And for the year, the Silverado trails the F-150 pickup in sales by just 23,526 units -- raising the stakes in one of Detroit's longest and most closely watched product rivalries.
Now Ford is rallying dealers to set a new monthly record in July for the F-150 pickup.
Ford had held the record for monthly full-size pickup truck sales since October 2001, when it sold 102,424 F-150 models during the auto industry's sales blitz following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The F-150 has been the nation's top-selling light vehicle for 28 consecutive years and is Ford's most profitable vehicle line. With losses mounting in North America, it is making a renewed effort to revive F-150 sales that have dropped 6 percent this year.
"We want to re-establish a new full-size pickup monthly sales record with over 110,000 F-series sales in July," Ford Division President Daryl Hazel told dealers in a letter last week. "It is essential that we close the month strong and report all F-series sales."
The heightened sales race has produced a major pricing war between Chevrolet and Ford, while undermining profitability at GM. and Ford.
The average transaction price of a 2005 Silverado 1500 pickup has dropped 3 percent from $25,004 in January to $24,193 in June, according to Edmunds.com, an online shopping guide. Average F-150 prices have dropped 2 percent since January, to $25,799 last month.
The raft of new discounts by Detroit and other automakers is expected to push July's new car and truck sales to a four-year high. Major automakers will report July sales on Tuesday. http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0507/31/D01-264357.htm
