Ford offers 6-year loans on new vehicles as sales slide

DEARBORN, Mich. November 1, 2002 Bloomberg News is reporting that Ford Motor Co. extended its longest new-vehicle loans by 12 months to six years, effectively cutting consumers' monthly payments in an attempt to revive slumping car and truck sales.

The automaker started offering six-year loans on all of its Ford-brand vehicles earlier this month, including interest rates as low as 1.9 percent on the Ford Windstar minivan, spokesman Jim Cain said. Interest rates on the six-year loans for other vehicles range mainly from 3.9 to 6.9 percent.

"It was a step we took to be as competitive as possible," Cain said. Ford loans typically ranged from two to five years.

Ford's sales fell 6 percent through September, compared with increases of 1 percent for the industry, 2.1 percent for larger rival General Motors Corp. and 1.4 percent for DaimlerChrysler AG. No-interest loans have lost some of their allure, and U.S. auto sales may fall 26 percent when automakers report October sales tomorrow, according to a Bloomberg News analyst poll.