-Ford, Mercury and Lincoln crossover utility vehicles paced the industry's fastest-growing segment with a gain of 62 percent in 2007; Ford Edge challenged entrenched foreign models for supremacy among mid- size crossovers.

- Ford's Farley: "Ford Edge is a great example of our plan to build products people really want to buy."

- Lincoln posts 9 percent increase in 2007, owing to new MKX crossover and higher sales for MKZ sedan.

- New Ford Focus up 3 percent in December (9 percent at retail).

- Ford's F-Series truck was America's best-selling truck in 2007 - the 31st year in a row.

- Ford's 2007 sales totaled 2.57 million, down 12 percent compared with 2006; more than two-thirds of the decline reflected discontinued models.

- Ford's December sales totaled 212,094, down 9 percent.


http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...03/074291.html

 

Good news I suppose. Glad to here they own the crossover market.

 

It's a bit of a conflicted report - individual increases belie the overall decreases...which are the numbers that really matter at the end of the day.

 

I still think it's a bit too early to accurately analyze the big picture, given that the company is supposedly in turn-around.

 

Q4 financials will be interesting. If they made a profit again then it may be that they've downsized to the point where they're making money on each sale instead of giving them away. That's a good thing since it means some stability.

 

Now if they would just stop rebadging every single SUV/CUV/minivan/truck as a Lincoln, I'd have cause to be truly optimistic.

 

I'm hopefull that's where they're headed once they get the business stabilized and profitable.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22527986/

 

Good interview. Sounds like a smart guy.

Of course, all the marketing tricks in the world won't help you if you don't have the product customer's want, so his efforts must work hand-in-hand with Ford's product renaissance. And that renaissance shouldn't include making Flex-based Lincoln crossovers.

 

Yup. In this article, he's pushing to get key products to market sooner. Farley is the shot in the arm that Ford needed. He's an outsider (like Mulally) who will question the status quo.

 

Those products cannot come soon enough.

 

Yup, they need them like yesterday.