Ford market share gains largest since 1977

Ford President of the America�s Mark Fields said Tuesday that the company�s U.S. market share increased by 2.7 points during the first three months of this year.

�The last time we had a gain that big was back in the fourth quarter of 1977,� Fields said at a breakfast event in Detroit that coincided with the opening of SAE World Congress, an automotive engineering conference. �In 1977, 'Saturday Night Fever' was just being launched and 'Close Encounters of The Third Kind' was out, so it�s really been a long time.�

Through March, Ford�s share of U.S. auto sales was 17.4%, according to Autodata Corp. That puts Ford in second place for the year behind General Motors, whose market share over the first three months was 18.7%.

Both companies have benefited as Toyota struggled, especially in February, to deal with fallout related to the recall of nearly 6 million vehicles in the U.S. for faulty pedals or floor mats that could lead to sudden acceleration.

Fields said Ford achieved its market share gains with across-the-board sales increases for its cars, SUVs and pickups and said in April so far sales also have increased compared with the same month last year.

�We still have most of the month ahead of us, but it�s encouraging so far,� Fields said.

While Fields declined to say if Ford would post a profit for the first quarter, he said an industry-wide increase in incentives in March did not hurt the company�s first-quarter performance.

�Not only did we have good balanced share growth�year-over-year our incentives were down and our revenue was up,� Fields said.

He declined to elaborate further because the company is prohibited from commenting on financial results this close to reporting them. Ford typically reports first-quarter earnings at the end of April.

�We�ve said�our intent for this year is to be profitable in North America, profitable in automotive (operations) and profitable as a company,� Fields said.

Fields also said the U.S. economy appears to be recovering, but said the big question is how quickly.

�We are starting to see the economic metrics start to go in the right direction,� Fields said.