Ford's F-150 cutback hits heart of Texas


08:41 AM CDT on Saturday, June 21, 2008
By JESSICA MEYERS / The Dallas Morning News
jmeyers@dallasnews.com

Just last month, the pickup Texans love was knocked from its perch as the nation's best-selling vehicle.

Friday, Ford Motor Co. put the brakes on the new F-150, delaying its much-anticipated launch until late fall.

It's enough to make a cowboy cry.

The trucks symbolize the "the working man," said Brad Hawkins, general sales manager at Randall Reed's Prestige Ford in Garland. "These work horses are what a guy uses for his crops. He throws sheet rock in the back. You gotta have them."

Michigan-based Ford blamed dwindling sales and higher gas prices for its cutback announcement, a move that not only hurts the automaker financially but also pains a state known as the truck capital of the world.

"We were really excited about having a new body-style truck," said John Thull of Westway Ford in Irving. "Man, that's not good, but it's just reality with the way the economy is, even if people in Texas love their trucks."

His dealership generally sells 220 vehicles a month, almost half of them trucks. More than 65 percent are F-150s.

But he fears it's only going to get worse. "Every time you turn on the TV, it's gloom and doom. It makes everybody freeze up," he said.

In pushing back the introduction of the F-150 and making other factory cuts, Ford said it would boost production of smaller cars and mini-SUVs.

"We are responding to customer demand," Ford CEO Alan Mulally said.

That's still not enough to keep some Texans away from their trucks, said James Russell, who services F-150s at Grand Prairie Ford and also owns one.

"From a classic American truck standpoint, this is not something you want to see or hear," Mr. Russell said.

"Built Ford tough" is not just a slogan, say Texas truck owners.

The allegiance goes beyond utility.

"Persons young and old can remember uncles and fathers driving Ford F-150s and it leads them in the same direction. The Ford F-150 is a staple," Mr. Russell said.

Jeff Burttschell, member of Texas Rock Crawlers, a truck club, said owning a pickup is a "status symbol" that he won't give up.

Still, not everyone can hold out.

Russell Graham, a retired construction worker from Irving, said he's just put the F-150 he's owned for the past 10 years on the market.

"It performs well and seems to me like one of the best trucks made," Mr. Graham said. "But with the cost of fuel and insurance, things are just too expensive."

In good years, pickups account for 20 percent of new-vehicle purchases in Texas – nearly twice the national average.

For the last 30 years, Ford's F-series trucks – which include the light-duty F-150, plus the heavier Super Duty pickups – have been the top-selling vehicles of any kind in the U.S.

In May, Honda overtook the F-150s. The truck slipped to fifth place, behind four gas-efficient cars: the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.

The slowdown in sales has hit not just Ford. GM and Chrysler have recently reduced shifts and shuttered factories.

Earlier this month, GM said it would close four truck and SUV factories. Thursday, the company said it would delay work on the next generation of full-size pickups and SUVs, focusing instead on more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Meanwhile, Honda Motor Co., thanks in part to its popular small sedans, recorded nearly 5 percent higher sales through May over the first five months of 2007.

But Mr. Russell, the F-150 owner, said simply: "You gotta have a truck to do things.

"I'm doing floors in my home. What if I have to get wood or tile? You are not going to fit that stuff in a Honda Civic."

AT A GLANCE: Fallout at Ford
Battered by a continuing plunge in pickup and sport utility vehicle sales, Ford Motor Co. said it would delay work on the next generation of full-size pickups and SUVs to focus resources on more fuel-efficient vehicles. It also said:

•The new F-150 model won't be launched until late fall instead of its earlier target of late summer. F-series trucks accounted for 27 percent of Ford's U.S. sales last year, generating much of the company's revenue. But sales are off 19 percent for the first five months of the year and fell about a third in May.

•Other production cutbacks are in store for large trucks and SUVs. The company now plans to produce 475,000 vehicles, 25 percent fewer than the third quarter of last year.

•Production will be increased for smaller vehicles, including the Ford Focus sedan and Ford Escape and small SUVs, products that have been attracting more sales this year even as overall auto sales have dropped.

WHAT'S AHEAD: The company said its 2008 automotive financial results will be worse than in 2007, when it posted an overall net loss of $2.7 billion. As late as May 22 the company predicted it would break even in 2009, but Ford now warns that will be difficult on a pretax basis. Its shares fell 54 cents, or 8.5 percent, to $5.78 in late trading Friday.









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