George Pipas
George Pipas
area boomers cars looking
Next-generation mid-size cars are an area where boomers will be looking very closely,
brand carve continue dominate names niche offered products strong three toyota
The Nissan and Toyota products will carve out a niche in the full-size segment, but the Big Three and F-series will continue to dominate for years to come, ... The products and brand names offered by domestics are very strong and getting stronger. The Nissan product is great, but it still has a way to go. So does Toyota.
largest models profitable
It was the most profitable models that experienced largest increases,
buys car focus likely move pickup stay
The person who buys a Focus is more likely to stay with us to move into a mid-size car or SUV or pickup trucks,
advantage balance capacity demand honda production toyota whenever
Whenever production and demand are out of balance, you have incentives. Toyota and Honda have the advantage of a more clean-sheet approach, so they have capacity more in balance with demand.
lack levels support term
With these levels of inventories, we probably need to replenish inventories to a level that will support a - for lack of a better term - 'normal' level of sales,
couple months next november rates sales trend
I think the next couple months will be pretty choppy. It will probably be November before we can think about trend sales rates again.
account branded percent premium products today vehicle
Today premium branded products account for 11 percent of new vehicle sales. In '96 they accounted for 6 percent of the market.
change compelling sea simple
Think we'll see a sea change in sales. I don't think we'll see a sea change in the economy. There is nothing like a simple compelling offer.
best huge last month sixth
Last May was a huge SUV month -- the sixth best ever for Ford,
beginning expected january sales
January sales were better than we expected at the beginning of the month. We expected them to be down 15 to 20 percent.
ahead easily inventory january month selling situation
January is easily the slowest selling month of the year. We don't want the inventory situation to get ahead of us.
financing impact perceived percent program strong swept wave zero
I think that impact of that program is not as strong as when it was first announced, ... Zero percent financing was like a tidal wave and you had to get on the wave or you'd be swept under. But I think the program is still perceived as having a lot of value.
goal good increase market share
Our goal is to increase market share in 2003. There's a long way to go...but this is a good start.