Has Ford's Aluminum F-150 Finally Turned the Corner? - Motley Fool
Two big numbers that tell a good story for Ford. Here are the two big numbers: First, retail sales of Ford's F-Series rose 13% in July. What does that tell us. It tells us that demand for Ford's new F-150 continues to be white-hot even as Ford is getting more of the new trucks to its dealers. Both of Ford's pickup factories required weeks of downtime in order to install the tooling necessary to make the new aluminum-bodied truck. Given that both factories run nearly around the clock at a fast pace, the upshot was a shortage of Ford pickups. And it has been prioritizing retail deliveries of the new F-150 over commercial-fleet sales, which are normally a substantial part of Ford's pickup business. Ford's second-quarter profits were extremely strong despite the lower truck sales. That's because the new F-150 has been getting very strong prices at retail, a trend that continued in July despite a planned end-of-the-model-year boost in Ford's incentives. But investors have been eager to see how the all-new F-150 would perform head-to-head with GM's Chevy Silverado and other rivals once Ford's dealers have full supplies. Source: www.fool.com
