Ford Also Announces Incentives for Toyota Customers

It seems that American automakers are ganging up on Toyota, as Ford announced that it will also offer incentives for Toyota customers, just like General Motors. If you are working for the marketing department of Toyota North America this might be the right time to panic.

Just as GM, Ford is offering $1,000 for customers who trade in Toyota, Lexus, Scion, Honda or Acura vehicles with model-years between 1995 and 2010. The incentive can be applied on all Ford vehicles, except its gas-electric hybrids models, its F-150 Raptor pick-up truck, its new Taurus SE sedan, its Edge SUV all-wheel drive and its Shelby GT500 and KR sports cars, says The Wall Street Journal.

"We have launched offers in the marketplace encouraging owners of other brands to visit Ford showrooms and drive one of our high-quality, fuel-efficient vehicles," Ford spokesman Mark Truby said in a statement Wednesday, the Journal reported.

Things are not looking too bright for Toyota, as the Japanese manufacturer decided to stop selling eight of its models due to the famous sticking accelerator pedals. The bad news continues, as the company also announced it is going to stop the production of the Camry, its best sold model, for the first week of February.

The misfortunes had a powerful impact on the stock market, as Toyota’s stock went down 9.12% to $78.87 on Wednesday, when the news became official. On the other hand, Ford’s stock went up 2.14% to $11.42.