Ford Lowers MSRP of Most Ford, Lincoln, Mercury Models for 2006

DEARBORN, Mich., Aug. 1, 2005 - Ford Motor Company is bringing manufacturer suggested retail prices (MSRPs) for its 2006 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury products closer to the final transaction price to deliver better value and to simplify the purchase process for customers. Beginning this month, Ford Motor Company will introduce True Blue Pricing to realign MSRPs on its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury products to better reflect final selling prices, lowering the sticker prices on most 2006 model year vehicles.

"We're going to sell on the strength of our products rather the amount of the incentive," said Steve Lyons, group vice president North American Marketing, Sales and Service. "With a strong, fresh product lineup we are best positioned to take advantage of this pricing strategy."

Responding to the Virtual Marketplace More than 70 percent of new vehicle buyers today use the Internet as a source of product information, including pricing. However, according to Edmunds.com, fewer than 15 percent of online shoppers click through to see what incentives are available for a particular vehicle. As a result, many customers don't see the lowest possible prices that might be available on a vehicle.

With 60 million visitors expected to visit fordvehicles.com - the most widely shopped Web site among OEMs - in 2005, Ford Motor Company's True Blue Pricing plan is designed to cut the confusion and communicate a more straightforward pricing and value message to the customer.

New Products Leading the Way at Ford As all-new and significantly freshened vehicles enter the Ford product showroom, they will offer the features customers are looking for - with outstanding value communicated through sticker prices that line up more closely with transaction prices. Ford is adding significant new content to the new 2006 Explorer while reducing price by an average of $1,750 less than the 2005 model. Similarly, the company is undercutting the competition with the introduction of the all-new Fusion mid-size sedan, setting an aggressive starting MSRP of $17,795. "We're expanding on a winning formula we piloted with the Mustang, Five Hundred and Freestyle earlier in the year in reducing the gaps between MSRP and actual transaction prices," said Ford Division President Darryl Hazel. "Introducing a new vehicle at the right price not only makes the vehicle immediately more competitive, it also helps deliver stronger residual value."

Ford is realigning visual MSRPs as well as simplifying and strengthening its series offerings on carryover products such as Focus and Freestar to make them more competitive against the facing competition. The company has lowered the average vehicle base MSRP for the 2006 Focus by $610 compared with the 2005 model. Ford is bringing the entry price point for Focus under the $14,000 mark, setting the MSRP for the 2006 Focus ZX3 S at $13,995 - lower than the sticker prices offered by Japanese competitors. As part of True Blue Pricing, Ford will reduce MSRPs throughout its truck lineup, offering the most dramatic realignments on the base series for the 2006 F-150 and Ranger models. The F-150 is now an even better value, with the 2006 F-150 starting under $20,000 - nearly $1,700 below the 2005 model - at $19,640 for the F-150 XL Regular Cab 4x2. Ford also is lowering MSRPs on all other F-150 configurations.

2006 Lincoln Mercury lineup offers more products, more value Pricing has been realigned across the entire 2006 Lincoln Mercury lineup to increase customer value on its vehicles. Lincoln Mercury has increased to twelve its number of product offerings, reduced the number of available arrays by 15 percent to make ordering easier for its dealers and customers, added premium content to many its most popular options packages and reduced pricing on many of its vehicle lines.

"Our premium brand, Mercury, and our luxury brand, Lincoln, are both putting as much value into our expanded product lineup as possible by providing more content in our base packages and simplifying the number of optional arrays offered," said Lincoln Mercury President Al Giombetti.

Today's announcement simplifies Lincoln Mercury's array structure, realigns equipment offerings, reduces pricing to bring MSRPs more in line with actual transaction prices and ensures customers better understand the tremendous value across Lincoln Mercury's entire line of cars, trucks and SUVs. For example, the starting MSRP on a new 2006 Mercury Mountaineer Premier AWD has been reduced by $2,640, while premium equipment, such as a 292 horsepower 4.6 liter V-8 engine, segment-exclusive six-speed automatic transmission, power-folding third-row seats and rear auxiliary air, has been added as standard equipment.

Mercury is introducing the all-new 2006 Milan with prices starting at $18,995 and Lincoln is debuting the all-new 2006 Zephyr with a starting MSRP of $29,660.