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Ford to Focus On SUVs, Steps Back From Sedans

ford is focusing on SUV

The Ford Motor Company is looking to revamp its business model as it gradually moves away from its sedan-centric strategy. The company now plans to focus on Sports Utility Vehicles aka SUVs as consumers now demand more power and speed from their automobiles.

Hey, we got tax cuts and less regulations, let’s get some more powerful vehicles as well!

The car demand has waned in recent years while SUVs have seen surge in their market potential. This is because of oil shale which is awesome – America has suitable fuel costs because of the genius method of fracking. Ford now plans to roll out quite a few variants of its SUVs.


New SUVs to Hit the Road

With its renewed spotlight on SUVs, Ford plans to overhaul its SUV lineup. In the near future, it will introduce new models with state of the art features to entice potential SUV buyers.

The market for passenger cars is consistently shrinking while more and more consumers are flocking towards SUVs and pickup trucks. The structural change in the market has made it imperative for the automaker to revisit its long term vision.

New Ford CEO Jim Hackett recently reported that the company will lower its passenger car volume in North America and Europe.

At the same time, Ford plans to boost its SUV product line by 10 percentage points in the coming years. The decision makes sense as SUVs have posted growing sales volume over the course of past three years and the trend is likely to continue. The new models to be developed by the company are expected to provide better mileage, making these SUVs a cheaper alternative in the long run.


Fixing the Company

There are several reasons behind Ford’s latest move. Apart from servicing the demand for SUVs, the company is also looking to boost its bottom line. Ford has been missing its profit margin targets for quite some time. The disappointing financial results were also the main reason behind the departure of its ex-CEO Mark Fields in May last year.

The new CEO Mark Hackett has now implemented the new strategy to fix the company’s financial woes. While the strategy may lead to some setbacks in the short term, it is expected to offer tangible benefits in the long run.


Product Makeover

Ford has taken multi pronged approach to its new strategy. The company is not only planning to boost its production of SUVs, it also plans to diversify the product mix to ensure that its products appeal to a wider demography.

One of the best examples of this strategy is Ford’s Edge, which is designed to cater the female driver segment. It is reported that almost 50 percent of this SUV’s turnover is attributed to women. The SUV has been given a bolder makeover recently.

SUVs are required to be operated differently from regular sedan cars. Ford is looking to make structural changes to some of its SUVs to make it easier for sedan drivers to make a transition towards SUVs.

The company’s recently introduced Edge ST is one such vehicle as it has been souped up with a twin turbo V-6 engine. Ford also plans to reinvent its EcoSport and Escape vehicles. In the coming months, it would be interesting to see Ford adding new features to its SUV models to make them more appealing to the masses.

Ford’s new strategy will help the company in boosting its financial position. It will also aid the company in facing competition where the company is lagging behind its peers in many vital areas but it is still the best car manufacture on the planet.

Its competitors such as Tesla and GM have made important inroads into self-driving cars while Ford has not been able to come up with a viable plan in this regard. In such a scenario, it makes sense for the company to focus on the areas where it has more expertise and less competition. On top of this, GM accepted a bailout which is unimpressive to many people and Tesla has major concerns of its own.

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