Ford Produce 305,000 Trucks In 1Q Amid Consumer Demand

Ford Motor Co. responding to yet another change in consumer demand, is planning to boost pickup truck production in the first quarter of 2009.

The auto maker will build 305,000 pickup trucks and 125,000 cars, Ford sales analyst George Pipas said in a conference call Tuesday. That compares with about 255,000 pickups and 175,000 cars in the current quarter.

"Almost 20% of our sales was the new F-150 pickup trucks," Ford Marketing Chief Jim Farley said. "That is a very good start for us. We are starting to see some regions where dealers are trading trucks across state lines because our shipments of 2009 aren't getting out fast enough."

A variety of auto dealers, interviewed by Dow Jones Newswires in mid-November, said they had noticed an uptick in pickup truck and sport-utility vehicle sales amid lower gas prices and the high incentives. Some dealers were offering discounts of as much as $7,000. Ford and Chrysler LLC also stirred the market with its introduction of new products. Chrysler recently introduced a redesigned Dodge Ram pickup.

Ford said last month that it may have cut its truck production too deeply earlier this year and has since bolstered production, which includes rehiring 1, 000 workers at the company's Dearborn, Mich., plant starting in January. In June, Ford cut two shifts - or 40% - of employees assembling F-150s at plants in Dearborn and Kansas City.

Despite the increase, Ford will still produce 117,000 fewer trucks than it did during the first quarter of 2008.

Farley said forget trying to predict overall U.S. sales in 2009. He still expects the market to remain soft through at least mid-2009."We are just trying to call it month by month," he said. "We started out thinking November would be better than October, and look what happened."November sales were lower even though everyone was offering incentives much sooner."

Ford shares rose 10 cents, or 3.9%, to $2.64 in recent trading.

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