Ford to boost production of Focus, Escape

DEARBORN (AP) — Ford said Thursday it will build more of its popular Focus and Escape models and boost total vehicle production later this year to help dealers restock depleted showrooms.

Ford Motor Co. needs to keep up with demand for its Focus compact and Escape crossover, both ranked as top sellers under the federal government’s Cash for Clunkers program. It also wants to maintain a reasonable level of cars and trucks so its dealers won’t run short on hot models during the final months of the year.

Cash for Clunkers, which kicked off last month and has revived industry sales for the moment, uses rebates of up to $4,500 to entice drivers to trade in older, gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient vehicles. To be eligible, vehicles must have combined city/highway mileage of 18 mpg (7.7 kpl) or less when they were new.

Ford’s overall vehicle production will be two percent higher than it expected in the third quarter. It also plans to boost its fourth-quarter output of cars and trucks by 33 percent from a year earlier.

While funding for the Clunkers program is likely to run dry by September, the company said, the additional vehicles produced in the quarter will go to replenish dealer stocks. Ford is struggling to keep up with demand after paring down inventories earlier this year.

Vehicles that roll off assembly lines as part of the production boost should reach showrooms by early September, Ford said.

“That should give us some time to reload before 2010 begins,” said George Pipas, Ford’s top sales analyst. “Dealers will be dealing with historically relatively low inventories for some time to come.”

Pipas said there would probably be some drop-off in sales when the program ends, although Clunkers will have succeeded in providing a small kick-start to the economy.

The automaker, which has steadily been gaining sales since GM and Chrysler took government aid and went through bankruptcy proceedings, reported a year-over-year sales increase of 2.4 percent in July, the first such jump since November of 2007.

Ford is the latest automaker to raise production.

Foreign automakers with US plants are taking similar steps.

Honda Motor Co. is also adding Saturday overtime shifts at its auto assembly plants in East Liberty, Ohio; Lincoln, Alabama; and Greensburg, Indiana.

Toyota Motor Corp. last month began increasing production of “core” models such as the Corolla sedan — the best-selling new model for traders of clunkers - the RAV4 crossover and the Tacoma truck at its US plants. And Hyundai Motor Co. is recalling more than 3,000 employees at its plant in Montgomery, Alabama.

Chrysler is now adding overtime at most of its plants to respond to expected demand for its 2010 models.

GM is being more cautious. Mark LaNeve, GM’s vice president of US sales said the company is doing careful analysis on whether to increase production but no final decisions have been made.

Inventories are low, he said, because GM slashed production earlier in the year. But it’s unclear whether July’s sales momentum will continue through the remainder of the year.