No one can be certain of the future, but Ford Motor Co. is pretty confident that it made the right call.
One year ago, as the company reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2018, Ford shocked consumers, investors and dealers with what seemed like an abrupt announcement: The iconic company famous for making affordable cars available to the masses actually planned to stop making sedans.
Now Ford officials are looking at sales trends with joy and relief.
“The migration out of passenger cars into SUVs has accelerated,” Mark LaNeve, vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service at Ford, told the Free Press. “It’s breathtaking. It’s a generational shift. At Ford, we believe it’s structural, or otherwise permanent. It won’t bounce back with an oil shock.”
He added, “I don’t know what the bottom is. Because they’re so important to the Asian brands, you will get some sustaining level.”