How is Ford doing? According to Doug Scott, Ford’s Truck Marketing Manager even though they are being considerably outspent by GM and Chrysler, the new F150 has gained 5-6 points of market share since its debut last fall.
Mike Gray, AutoUpkeep.com
As the marketing manager, do you find it is becoming more difficult to market against the aggressive campaigns that GM is promoting (60-Day Satisfaction Guarantee, 100000 mile/5-year Powertrain warranty)?Doug Scott, Ford’s Truck Marketing Manager
No. When you are focused on continously improving great products like F-150 and Super Duty that becomes all encompassing. The new F-150 has gained 5-6 points of market share since it’s debut last fall despite being considerably outspent by the incentives from both GM and Dodge.
See the full chat transcript TheFordStory.com.
I also tried to get some insight on future plans, but Ford and Mr. Scott were not giving any insight to the future. See my question and his answer below.
Mike Gray, AutoUpkeep.com
I know this is a “future plans” question…are there any official press releases (that I may have missed) that addresses this question – Does Ford Motor Company have any future plans for a hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or an all electric truck (to directly compete with the Tahoe or Silverado Hybrids)? Any plans for a diesel-electric hybrid that would work in Super Duty Trucks? (Navistar has the International WorkStar Hybrid for commercial trucks.)Doug Scott, Ford’s Truck Marketing Manager
Mike – again a future product question, but I will say this the GM hybrid pickups only account for 0.2% of their Aug CYTD full size pickup sales. Obviously, the truck customer is saying that the compromise in the capability and the price tag is too high to make this a viable product.
In response to this, I would like to comment that in an effort to bring the hybrid truck technology down to a reasonable price, the major car makers need to experiment with it. If Ford isn’t experimenting with truck hybrids now, will they be behind the curve when (and it is probably when, not if) they take off? Diesel electric hybrids make sense for light trucks.
What do you think? Is a hybrid truck a “viable product”?
