Ford and GM Are Taking Advantage of Toyota's Troubles

With Toyota announcing one of the largest recalls in automobile history, it has allowed Ford to reclaim it's spot as the number two automaker in the United States. Over the past few years Ford has improved the qualilty and reliability of their cars making consumers think about buying a Ford once Toyota announced their massive recalls . Ford vice president of U.S. marketing sales and service had this to say about the positive start to the new year: "We had a very positive start to the year." He also stated that despite the sales gains Ford's retail sales to customers in dealer showrooms were about 5 percent below expectations.

Either way it is good news for a company that was close to bankrupts last year. It also shows that there is still life at the Ford Auto Mobile Company, the only car company out of the big three auto companies out of Detriot that did not request bail out money from the government. Here is a break down of sales from each division of the Ford Auto Mobile Company: 26% for the Ford brand, 15.5% for Lincoln 5.8% for Mercury and 42% for Volvo which in the process of being sold.

General Motors also benefited from Toyota's nightmare as their core brands posted a 40% gain. Most of the sales however were due to a 225% percent increase in fleet sales but retail sales also went up 3%. GM vice president of sales had this say about the sales increase; "Our four brands continue to show growing strength," said Susan Docherty.

In light of Toyota's recall nightmare Ford and GM announced special incentives for customers trading in a Toyota or Lexus when buying a new Ford or GM product. They are offering a $1000 dollar incentives to the customers trading in those cars plus the trade in value of the car. It was a smart move by Ford and GM because their reputation is slowly repairing itself. Why? Over the past few years Fords reliability and quality has been one of the best in the auto industry. GM on the other hand while not the best they are certainly not the worst and is only getting better. With their old customers buying cars from Toyota and in light of the recall they get the chance to get back their customers. After all thanks to our taxes we all own a part of GM.