Most full-size truck shoppers were scared away from the segment earlier this year when gas prices topped $4 a gallon, but Ford ’s redesigned 2009 F-150 has lured at least some of those buyers back into showrooms. Just months after cutting two F-150 production shifts, Ford has announced that it will be restoring one shift at the F-150’s Kansas City plant, with overtime work slated to begin there this week.
Ford had some pretty modest sales expectations for the new F-150 — due to the slumping auto market – but the new truck has proven to be a solid performer for the Blue Oval. Although F-150 sales were down 18.6 percent last month, that was the smallest decline of any Ford vehicle line, according to Automotive News.
“Frankly, a lot of regions and dealers in those regions are really concerned about their truck inventory,” Jim Farley, Ford group vice president of marketing and communications, told Automotive News. “We’re starting to see quite a few regions where they’re trading trucks across state now because we’ve run out of ’08s, and the ’09 shipment is not as fast as they would want.”
However, despite the early success of the truck, Ford doesn’t envision F-150 sales returning to historical highs. Through the first 11 months of 2008 Ford has sold about 474,000 F-150s, compared to 939,000 units in the truck’s peak year of 2004.
