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Ford Sedans Gone  When Ford announced years ago that it was dropping sedans, the industry gasped.  In the November 18, 2019 issue of Automotive News the monthly summary of North American production showed goose eggs for Ford sedans for the first time.  Zero for Fiesta.  Zero for C-Max.  Zero for Focus, Zero for Fusion, Zero for Taurus.  Since the Lincoln MKZ is built alongside the Fusion, it too shows Zero.  The only 4-door sedan left in the Ford Motor Company lineup is the Lincoln Continental.  One interesting data point on the chart is a last gasp surge in production for the Ford Flex.  Ford produced almost 3,000 Flex XSUVs in October.   That is more than twice the rate in September.

Using 2018 production as a comparison, Ford has dropped 365,345 units from its production.  All are “cars”; most are Ford Sedans.

Filling the void are trucks and crossover SUVs.  The Escape is all new for 2020 and should yield over 250,000 units in annual production when it gets up to speed.  Its companion Lincoln Corsair appears capable of 50,000 to 60,000 units.  The all new Ford Explorer crossover should have an annual pace of 250,000 or so.  Its companion Lincoln entry, the Aviator, could hit 50,000 per year.  The Ranger mid-size pickup is in its first full year and looks like it will have a production number of about 150,000 for the 2019 calendar year.

And, by the way, the F-Series has already produced over 900,000 units between the F-150 and Super Duty in 2019.  If production continues at the same pace, F-Series could break 1.2 million units produced in 2019.  This sounds like the production numbers of the LTD 4-door sedan at the end of the ’70s when Ford was pumping them out of five assembly plants.

Even gutting its car/sedan production it looks like Ford Motor Company’s production numbers will not take a big hit.  Calendar year to date, 2019 is only 106,049 units lower than 2018.  That is dropping dropping less profitable cars/sedans and replacing them with all new, more competitive and more profitable crossover SUVs and trucks.

If the market stays strong through the end of 2019, Ford could offset that lost volume by year end.