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Ford to Fall to No. 3

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

December 21, 2006

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The Ford Motor Co. is warning that Toyota Motor Corp. will soon move into second place in U.S. auto sales, perhaps early in 2007.

The fall will mark the end of a long run for Ford as the country's second largest selling brand. Ford has held on as the second biggest seller of vehicles in the American market behind General Motors since the 1920s.

Internal Ford documents and projections are preparing shareholders for the fall to third place. Ford executives believe the automaker will permanently fall to third as soon as January.

Ford executives have already suggested the company market share will drop to 14 to 15 percent making Ford smaller than Toyota. The projections estimate the company could lose at least 1.1 percentage points of market share over the coming year.

Ford discontinued its Taurus which the automaker had sold in large volumes to rental-car companies. Ford also expects sales of the F-series pickup and Explorer to continue dropping.

Edmunds.com, a Web site offering car-buying advice, in its own forecast, predicts Ford will fall to second place behind Toyota by mid-2007.

As recently as 2000, Ford accounted for a quarter of vehicle sales in the US thanks, in part, to its dominant position in pickup trucks and sports utility vehicles.

In November Ford's market share was down to 16.2 percent, with Toyota grabbing 14.9 percent.

Toyota is likely to close in on General Motors in as the world's biggest automaker, in part because of demand from Brazil, Russia, India and China.

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