Ford Pushes New F-150 With Big Incentives

2015 Ford F-150 (Credit: Ford)

It’s no secret that Ford’s been struggling to sell the all-new F-150. You can blame it on consumers’ confusion over aluminum and its physical properties, which can be at least partially attributed to Chevrolet’s recent ads. Even more of a factor has been the multiple problems plaguing the Blue Oval’s effort to get a regular flow of the pickups rolling off assembly lines.

Whatever the cause, Bloomberg is reporting that Ford is serious about moving F-150s from dealer lots. The company is actually offering up to $10,029 incentive on specific trim levels for the truck in certain parts on the country. It’s a strategy designed to help Ford regain lost market share and help with adoption of the new model.

Ford is proud of the F-150’s status as the best-selling vehicle in America for the past 33 years. During the manufacturing problems, it got behind by 100,000 units. That’s not a small quantity of trucks. This problem has been eroding sales, with the first half of 2015 down by 2.4 percent.

Some auto industry analysts are questioning the claim that Ford is just making up for the lag in F-150 manufacturing. Whether the incentives continue for a while or become more standard around the country could indicate if the automaker has a big problem.

No matter the trigger for the incentives, the fact is that such a move by Ford could hurt the resale value of the new F-150. That alone could be a factor that would deter some truck shoppers, especially those who are looking at more expensive trim levels, which is where most of the incentives are being offered.

When one goes down, the other two rise, or at least that’s how it is in the American truck market. Thanks to shrinking Ford F-150 sales, both Ram and General Motors have seen an increase. For example, the Silverado enjoyed a great month in June, with an 18 percent bump over the previous June sales figures.