2016 Ford F150
Detroit Free Press
It has taken a year, but inventories of the F-150 are approaching normal levels and Ford was rewarded with a 5% sales increase in F-Series sales in August, which contributed to a 6% hike in overall sales.
As reported by the Detroit Free Press, the results underscore two things: the importance of the truck to Ford’s overall sales in the U.S. and perhaps vindication of a calculated gamble to switch to aluminum for a truck that had a steel body for more than seven decades.
Ford U.S. sales chief Mark LaNeve said Tuesday that sales of 71,332 last month made it the best August for the F-Series since 2006 and exceeding 70,000 in sales has happened only seven times in the last eight or nine years.
Signs of success come after a year of skepticism and falling sales, market share and profits.
It was Aug. 25, 2014, that Ford began implementing a detailed demolition plan that started by closing the Dearborn Truck assembly plant as part of a calculated gamble to switch to an aluminum body for a truck that had been made of steel for a century.
The changeover has been costly.
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