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Ford's delayed launch of the 2009 F-150 until late fall will give dealers more time to move the 2008 models seems to be another sign of the times. Its Kansas City plant will begin putting new F-150s together in August and the Dearborn, Michigan plant will start production in Setember.
The ubiquitous truck being individually outsold by not one but three small cars in May alone should be a good indicator of the changing face of auto sales.
Ford itself is facing trouble now due to the nature of its financial recovery plan - the biggest profits come from pickups and SUVs, and yet small cars are consistently selling in larger and larger numbers. The work shifts in both Kansas City and Dearborn will take a hit, being cut down to just one and two-shift work cycles, respectively. The suburban Detroit plant that builds Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs is in the midst of a nine week shutdown, and the Chicago plant that builds the Ford Taurus and Mecury Sable has been slowed down. Not all the news is so downbeat, however. The Ford Focus, Escape, Edge, Flex, and Mercury Mariner and MKX will undergo increased production. The F-Series will no longer be produced at the Cuautitlan, Mexico plant by the end of this year, but will instead be creating Ford Fiestas, starting in early 2010. And the European Ford Focus will be making its entrance sometime after 2010 onto US shores, bringing the domestic version up to date with the newer international platform. Our take? While all this activity doesn't spell the end for Ford to reorganize production on such a large scale, it certainly bespeaks a changing emphasis onto smaller vehicles to carry the company into the future.
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