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Ford Motor Co. has ceased to broadcast national commercials for the Fusion and Focus saloons, which is fatal and has given more marketing effect to the Mustang, a decision that has been rewarded with a 35% increase in sales last month.
"That's the kind of stuff you're able to do when you focus on your range," said Mark LaNeve, vice president of marketing, sales and service in the United States at Ford. "This not only allows you to focus your product resources, but also to focus your human resources, time, attention and marketing on your product line. And we think that we derive an advantage.
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Ford will offer more variants of the Mustang, besides the special edition Bullitt launched this year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Steve McQueen's film which featured a legendary pursuit scene. This model is in high demand as customers are ready to be on waiting lists, LaNeve said. The fastback of 480 horsepower with a top speed of 163 mph starts at $ 47,495.
"How many ideas from Bullitt are still there?" LaNeve said. "This kind of niche, high-intensity vehicles do a lot for the Ford brand and the Mustang brand."
Mustang is fast becoming the only passenger car to survive. Ford has eliminated its range of North American products to focus on more lucrative trucks, utilities and commercial vehicles. Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett promised a return to a 10% profit margin in the company's largest region.
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Ford surprised analysts with sales up 4.1% in August, driven by gains from Mustang and F-Series trucks and SUVs, including a doubling of deliveries to the newly redesigned Lincoln Navigator. The good results followed a sluggish July, in which its old SUVs slowed down and sent a 3.3% drop in their total deliveries of light vehicles.
"The last 20 days of July, whatever the reason, were weak," LaNeve said. "If August had been tender, I would have been really nervous. But August seemed to bounce back, which we have seen over the last two years: we have a month of clunker, and then the industry bounces back.
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This resilience can be attributed to consumer confidence and a robust labor market, he said.
"When people have a job and they are optimistic about maintaining that job and seeing wages go up, they buy vehicles," LaNeve said. "Even when political or economic activities or tariffs were very noisy on the market, the consumer remained enthusiastic."
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Ford's August sales also benefited from a 15% increase in deliveries to fleet buyers, thanks to commercial vehicles such as the Super Duty pickup truck and the Transit van. LaNeve said the automaker benefits from an Amazon effect: rising online shopping has resulted in more consumers receiving their products from a delivery vehicle arriving at their doorstep.
"All of these emerging Internet companies that rely on delivery play an important role in our strategy with Transit," LaNeve said. "There is no doubt that this is generating demand in the commercial markets for delivery vehicles."
Upgrades with car model cuts in the fifth paragraph.
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Read Ford puts the muscle behind the Mustang while other cars disappear from the showroom on bloomberg.com
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