Ford Runs High in the US Thanks to CARS

Ford is one of the companies that benefited the most from the US scrapping scheme nicknamed Cash for Clunkers. The American manufacturer revealed in its financial results for July 2009 that Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales increased 9 percent over the same month of the previous year. Total sales, including fleet, were 158,838, up 2 percent over a year ago.

Most Ford models experienced sales increases, as it follows: Ford Fusion up 66 percent, Mercury Milan up 60 percent, Ford Escape up 94 percent, Mercury Mariner up 71 percent, Ford Focus up 44 percent and Ford Ranger up 65 percent; Ford hybrid sales up 323 percent.

“We had another strong month in progress before the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program started,” said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service.

“Our products, our dealers and our advance preparation enabled us to leverage the program and drive traffic and sales to another level,” he added. “In addition, we achieved a sales increase even though we decreased incentive spending in an increasingly competitive environment.”

Here are the specific sales figures for some of Ford's best-sellers in July:

• Ford Fusion sales totaled 17,610, a July record and up 66 percent versus a year ago, and Mercury Milan sales were up 60 percent.
• Ford Escape sales totaled 20,241, a July record and up 94 percent versus a year ago, and Mercury Mariner sales were up 71 percent.
• Ford Focus sales totaled 21,830, up 44 percent versus a year ago.
• Ford Ranger sales totaled 7,695, up 65 percent versus a year ago.
• Ford Flex sales totaled 3,631, up 65 percent versus a year ago.
• Ford’s hybrid vehicles (Fusion, Milan, Escape and Mariner) posted combined sales of 5,353, a record for any month and up 323 percent versus a year ago.