Mulally: FoMoCo will stick to small-cars, considering Ka minicar for U.S.

According to Ford CEO Alan Mulally, fuel-prices are going to stay relatively high, even though they’re low right now. With that in mind FoMoCo is not letting go of the idea of bringing its small-car onslaught to the U.S.

“The most important thing we can do is have a full complement of small and medium-sized cars and utilities that complement our larger vehicles,” Mulally told Automotive News in an exclusive interview.

Right now, Mulally says that his priority is to launch the subcompact Ford Fiesta in the U.S. by 2010. After that Ford will launch a variety of subcompact B-segment cars. Mulally is even considering the Ford Ka minicar for the U.S.

All these small cars means letting go of the handsome $8,000 to $10,000+ profit margin that Ford used to see with the pickups and SUVs. Mulally admits that at first it will take some time to fill in the loss of revenue on large vehicles but over time he plans to make money on them with a reasonable return.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)