Soundbites: December 2012 Sales
Ford Motor Company's U.S. sales grew across the board in 2012, with cars up 5 percent, utilities up 7 percent, and trucks up 2 percent for the year. Ford sales analyst, Erich Merkle says Ford ended 2012 with over 2 million vehicles sold... which was the only brand to top the 2 million mark in U.S. sales.
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| Cut #1: |
"In 2007, to top 2 million that was fairly common place for many of the larger brands, but today, since the recession, Ford is the only brand to make it back up above to the 2 million mark and we've done that now for 2 years." :16 sec. |
| Merkle explained which vehicles sold the most and why. | |
| Cut #2: |
"Ford really saw strong gains in its small cars, when we look at Fiesta, Focus and C-MAX they were up 29 percent, that's almost 10 percentage points than the overall segment this year." :15 sec. |
| C-MAX continued its strong selling rate, and according to Merkle is the fastest sales start of any hybrid vehicle in the industry. | |
| Cut #3: |
"C-MAX has been off to an incredible start for us, it's turning very fast on our dealer lots, and it is the fastest start of any hybrid vehicle in the industry." :12 sec. |
| Ford F-Series trucks continued to dominate in 2012, Merkle explained to what degree. | |
| Cut #4: |
"What we really saw was F-Series. In F-Series we had the best year since 2007. 2007 is pre-recessionary levels, so that was very impressive for F-Series, it also earned the title once again for the 36th straight year of America's best-selling pick-up truck." :23 sec. |
| Last month, Ford delivered its best December sales results since 2006, with 214,222 vehicles sold – a 2 percent increase. |