Ford Lobo Sales Drop Due to Popularity within Mexican Mafia

Ford’s Lobo pick-up trucks are very popular with drug running cartels in Mexico City. The fact that there's plenty of space in the pick-up's cabin for weapons makes it ideal for hitmen to do drive-by shootings in it. As a result, potential customers are refusing to buy the Ford Lobo, and other pick-ups, fearing they will be taken for gangsters by the Mexican Police.

When they decide to do attacks on rival gangs or law-enforcement facilities, heavily armed gunmen choose to steal pick-ups. Consequently, Mexican soldiers often stop pick-up drivers in order to check for drugs and guns. Ford say sales of similar vehicles from other manufacturers are just as affected.

As a result of the drop in sales of the Lobo, which is a variant of other F-series, Ford has lost a great deal of its market share in the country, as it now sits at only 10.7 percent, from 16 percent a few years ago. The Mexican auto industry mainly produces cars destined for export to the United States, and is undergoing a slow recovery. However, sales of Ford's Mexican dealers managed to shift 7.1 percent less vehicles in the last 3 quarters then in the same period last year.

Mexican Police and other armed forces are combating a rising trend in drug smuggling and armed gang fighting. Civilian deaths have reached 31,000 for the past four years in all of Mexico. Cities situated on the border with the United States are considered the most dangerous of all, seeing weekly shootings and victims numbering in the tens.