If you plan on renting a car in North America starting two years from now, chances are it will not be manufactured by Ford Motor Company, as only two cars will be available by the automobile manufacturer.
Renting a Ford Car to Become Increasingly Difficult in North America
According to this press release document from its 2018 first quarter financial results which were released on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, part of a statement from Ford Motor Company included that “…by 2020, almost 90 percent of the Ford portfolio in North America will be trucks, utilities and commercial vehicles. Given declining consumer demand and product profitability, the company will not invest in next generations of traditional Ford sedans for North America. Over the next few years, the Ford car portfolio in North America will transition to two vehicles — the best-selling Mustang and the all-new Focus Active crossover coming out next year.”
No longer will you be able to rent cars such as a Fiesta, Fusion or Taurus in the future; but you should still be able to rent cars built by Ford outside of North America, as they should remain unaffected by this decision.
Ford Motor Company was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on Tuesday, June 16, 1903 — and not even a year has elapsed since Jim Hackett took over at the helm as chief executive officer upon arriving at the decision that this will be the first time in 115 years of history that the carmaker will only be selling two models of cars in North America.
Summary
I have heard some people claim that fierce competition from Japanese, Korean and German automakers are what contributed to the “declining consumer demand and product profitability” for cars built by Ford Motor Company. I have also heard some people say that concentrating on sport utility vehicles and trucks will put the automaker at a disadvantage when fuel prices increase, as is currently happening.
I am not so sure about that. Ford Motor Company has imported cars which were built overseas in the past; and they could possibly increase the number of cars imported from elsewhere in the world which are needed to be sold in North America.
Initially discontinued in 2004 and revived in 2007, the Ford Taurus was once the best-selling car in the United States — most notably, in the mid-1990s — only to die yet again.
Still others believe that General Motors will capitalize on this decision and swoop in to the former Ford customer base to increase overall market share in North America.
One can only imagine what Henry Ford would think of the company which he founded upon learning of this news…
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
