Ford Suffers 31% Sales Decline in April, Still Beats Toyota

Ford might not be doing great in terms of sales, but they sure do know how to make it look that way. The company recently issued a press release on their financial situation for April 2009 from which you'd be inclined to believe that everything is nice and dandy for the Dearborn company. A careful read, however, reveals the gloomy truth.

April was as disastrous for this automaker as for the others as Ford posted a 31 percent decline for its brands – Ford, Lincoln and Mercury – compared to the same period in 2008, total sales amounting to 129,898. The company also mentioned that “retail sales were down 32 percent compared to a year ago and fleet sales were down 30 percent.”

And now for the good news. Ford managed to increase its retail market share in April, the sixth time in the last seven months when the company’s share of the retail market was higher than a year ago. The company managed to sell a record number of 18,321 Fusions in April. According to the press release, “April was the first full month of sales for the redesigned 2010 model and the new Fusion Hybrid version, and April is believed to be the first month that Fusion was among the top three-selling mid-size sedans.”

“We continue to operate in a very challenging economic and competitive environment,” said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, Sales and Marketing.  “Especially given this external environment, we’re very encouraged by the consumer response to our new mid-size sedans.”

“Sales of the 2010 Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, Lincoln MKZ and hybrid versions exceeded our plan and customers also are equipping our new products with levels of content and features that are higher than we expected. This suggests consumers view our high-quality, fuel-efficient new products as offering outstanding value,” he added.

Apart from the Fusion, the hybrid versions of the Mercury Milan mid-size sedan and Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner also contributed to the 21 percent increase in hybrid models compared to 2008. The F-150 pickup and Flex also recorded positive figures.

Another noteworthy observation comes when comparing Ford's sales with Toyota's. While both companies recorded steep declines in April – Toyota posted a 42.2 percent decrease – Ford managed to sell more vehicles than the Japanese – 129,898 versus 112,345 – and that's not half bad for these troubled times.