Ford’s focus on the development of its F-Series trucks has hampered its bottom line, Forbes reports. Pictured above is a 2017 Ford F-450 Super Duty Platinum Crew Cab 4×4.Ford has kicked off a Black Friday clearance sales event several weeks ahead of time following a costly recall and a 12 percent drop in sales for October.
Ford’s pre-holiday discounts follow popular incentives offered by GM and FCA during October. GM’s current “You don’t have to wait until Black Friday” sales event is offering a 20 percent savings on some 2016 models, and cash back incentives are available on 2016 and 2017 models, including the Chevy Silverado.
Ford will be competing against some deep discounts. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chevy’s cash back offer on a Silverado pickup reduces the original sticker of $44,500 down to $33,400.
But try Ford must, following lackluster sales in October that were compounded by roughly a $600 million loss for addressing an expanded door latch recall. Promotional costs for its 2017 Super Duty line-up also further deplete the OEM’s coffers.
Though the North American market may be sagging, Ford reported on Monday that October sales grew nearly 14 percent in China, where the OEM’s joint ventures with Chinese automakers have led to a diverse offering of vehicles, including Transit vans, Ranger pickups and an SUV based on the Ranger dubbed the Everest.
Not all of October is bad news for Ford. For example, sales of its F-Series trucks went up .1 percent, making it the best October for the popular pickups in 12 years.
In a recent article, Forbes lauds Ford for avoiding a government bail-out and developing its popular F-Series line, but criticizes the automaker for falling behind in the growing mid-size truck and SUV segments.
Next year, Ford may get a larger share of the SUV market as it begins offering the Expedition and Lincoln Navigator with aluminum bodies. And in 2019, Ford is expected to reintroduce its midsize Ranger.
But in the meantime, Ford is counting on pre-holiday incentives to help improve its bottom line, which according to Fox Business, was marred by a net income drop of 56 percent in the third quarter.
