All Cars, All the Time

Ford Hands Out the Candy


Ford is following GM's lead and will offer cash for gas. Ford is skipping the fancy, schmancy onboard diagnostic, GPS, hoo ha that GM has baked into it's Fuel Protection program and is simply offering up to $1,100 pre-loaded on a MasterCard. Whereas GM guarantees a price of $1.99 per gallon for a year with no mileage limitation, that's not going to be Ford's problem--you get x amount of dollars and that's it. In addition to the "gas money" Ford's new no-interest financing offers are six years for the Expedition and five years for models including the Explorer and Five Hundred sedan. Ford is offering the loans for up to three years on the Fusion, six-cylinder Mustang, Focus and Escape.

As previously discussed, GM's promotion generated a flurry of interest and perhaps will draw in consumers who are sitting on the sidelines because of gasoline prices. Ford hopes to do the same with the MasterCard and zero percent interest rates. However it is marketed, it's just more cash on the hood for manufacturers who are seeing an increased slowdown in sales. It's a tough situation to be in and say what you will about product planning, the marketing department has to do something.

I'm really racking my brain as to what I'd do myself if I were in their shoes. Instead of the usual cash on the hood rebates I’d consider several things. For the harder to move, larger vehicles I’d considering offering more equipment package deals in addition to the interest rates. Take the most commonly ordered options and throw them into a free package along with 1.9 percent interest rate. On the fuel economy side, I’d certainly make sure that my dealers are stocked with Focuses and four cylinder Fusions. I would take a very careful look at how sales are playing out regionally and try to assist my dealers however I could by moving around product to areas where they are selling well. I’d look at the product pipeline and see what I could bring forward without jeopardizing quality. Certainly not a panacea, but you have to break of the clutter somehow.

Ford's "Drive on Us" runs from June through July. Click here for the full Bloomberg article.