Ford reportedly is raising cash rebates by at least 25% on some of its slow-selling pickups and SUVs, after posting a 3% decline in US sales for February.
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The drop was the ninth consecutive monthly fall in sales for Ford in the US, which has seen sales of many vehicles hurt by rising petrol prices, Reuters noted.
The report said the new rebates from the automaker, which suffered an 8% drop in high-margin SUV and pickup sales in February, cover its Explorer and Expedition SUVs and some versions of its F-150 and SuperDuty pickup trucks.
Ford also extended its offer of interest-free financing for terms of up to 60 months on the two SUVs, Reuters said.
Ford reportedly raised discounts on the four-door Explorer SUV — which saw US sales decline 19.1% last month — and the F-150 SuperCab and SuperDuty pickups by $US500 to a total of $2,500.
The four-door F-150 Supercrew pickups now have cash rebates totaling $2,000, according to Reuters. Ford also raised cash incentives on its Expedition SUV, which saw sales decline 13.8% last month, by $1,000 to a total of $3,000.
All the rebates now run until April 4, Reuters said.
The news agency said analysts expect Detroit’s profit-punishing price war to heat up this year after a poor sales performance so far in 2005, which has caused inventories of unsold cars to rise to above-normal levels.
General Motors posted a 13% drop in its February US sales. DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler unit, which led incentive spending in January, according to some analysts, posted an 8% increase in February sales, Reuters added.
