Ford Reports 2.9% Drop in Total U.S. Sales for April

DEARBORN, Mich. May 1, 2003; Reuters reports that Ford Motor Co. said it had a 2.9% drop in total U.S. sales for April. Mustang sales rose 32%, however, buoyed by a $5-a-day lease incentive program, and Ford raised its second-quarter North American production plan.

The No. 2 auto maker said U.S. customers purchased or leased 298,037 cars and trucks from Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Jaguar, Volvo, and Land Rover dealers in April, down from 307,061 in April 2002.

Car sales fell 7.2% to 105,889, while truck sales edged lower, to 192,148 from 192,924.

By brand, Ford sales fell 2.6% to 251,186; Mercury sales fell 21% to 16,320, and Jaguar sales fell 30% to 3,792.

Lincoln sales rose 15% to 12,928. Ford said the Aviator and Navigator sport- utility vehicles combined for April sales of 5,745, nearly tripling last year's sales for Navigator alone and the highest SUV sales ever delivered by the Lincoln franchise in a single month. Navigator sales jumped 79% to 3,282, and the new Aviator had sales of 2,463.

Volvo sales rose 21% to an April sales record of 10,895, and Land Rover sales rose 5.1% to 2,916, also a record for the month.

Ford said Mustang had its best sales month since October 2001 as sales rose to 17,412 from 13,192 a year earlier.

On Tuesday Ford announced it was extending its $5-a-day lease on Mustangs and Rangers until June 16, the company's 100th anniversary. The promotion began April 2 and had been scheduled to end May 5.

Ford said Thursday that Ranger sales fell 7.8% to 17,862.

Meanwhile, the auto maker raised its second-quarter North American production plan by 10,000 units, or 5,000 cars and 5,000 trucks, in response to higher- than-expected demand for the Mustang, Expedition and Navigator. The company now plans to produce 990,000 vehicles in the second quarter, or 320,000 cars and 670,000 trucks.

Expedition sales rose 80% to 17,827 in April and Navigator sales rose 79% to 3,282.

"We're encouraged by higher consumer confidence readings," Jim O'Connor, Ford's vice president of North America marketing, sales and service, said in a statement. "A more confident consumer enhances the prospect that consumer spending will improve in the second half of the year."

Overall, auto sales figures were expected to be sequentially higher, but the numbers may show zero-percent financing offers are starting to lose their appeal.

When announcing the sweeping zero-percent offers last month, some industry executives were optimistic that sales could top a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 18 million vehicles for April. Industry watchers now expect sales will come in at a rate in the mid to high 16 million range, up from 16.2 million in March and 16.4 a year ago.