GM, Ford In Truck Slugfest

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are ratcheting up discounts in a battle for dominance in pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles, Wednesday's Wall Street Journal reported. This week, Ford (F), Dearborn, Mich., is rolling out in some parts of the country new incentive programs to spur sales of its large F-Series pickups. The F-series is the top-selling vehicle line in the country, but sales dipped 11% in May and its share of the pickup market has been eroding this year. Ford is on guard against a challenge for market dominance by GM's (GM) Chevrolet Silverado pickup, as well as competition from Toyota Motor Corp.'s (TM) Tundra pickup and DaimlerChrysler AG's (DCX) Dodge Ram. In the new Ford incentive program, the auto maker will offer bonuses of between $500 and $1,500 per unit to dealers for hitting certain sales objectives on new F-Series trucks. A Ford spokesman said the F-Series wasn't a national plan, but he said similar programs to boost sales of the F-Series and other models will run in different parts of the country. GM, meanwhile, is offering $1,000 "dealer cash" incentives on GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe full-size SUVs in some regions of the country. GM, Detroit, had strong incentives last month that countered deep discounting from Ford. GM has been pushing truck sales all year with aggressive discounting programs. While sales at Ford and DaimlerChrysler's U.S. brands fell in May, GM reported overall sales improved 0.2%, largely because light-truck sales rose 9.3%. The No. 1 auto maker also announced plans to add a modest number of vehicles to second-quarter production levels. Sales of the Silverado pickup grew 19% in May, backed by big incentives. Silverado models have added 2.8 percentage points of market share in the full-size pickup category so far this year to 32.5% at the end of May. Silverado inventories fell from 91 days' supply in April to 66 days' supply in May. Auto makers consider inventory levels of 60 to 65 days' supply most desirable. In contrast, F-Series models have lost 2.1 percentage points of share this year to 38.4% last month down from 40.5% of the category last year. F-Series trucks have accounted for roughly one out of five Ford vehicles sold this year. Ford dealers had 87 days' supply of Ford F-Series trucks in May. "With the new Silverado and the new Suburban and Tahoe, there is availability for everybody for however many they want," said Tom Shellworth, a Chevrolet dealer in Vacaville, Calif. "GM has decided that they have to move these vehicles and they're trying dealer cash, customer cash and APR incentives to move them. It's working." Copyright (c) 2001 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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GM, Ford In Truck Slugfest

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