FoMoCo looking to make gains in commercial fleet thanks to Fusion

According to FoMoCo’s group vice president of global marketing Jim Farley, the Dearborn automaker is looking to sell more passenger cars into commercial fleets during the first quarter compared to last year as large companies restock inventory. Usually, Ford’s biggest sellers into commercial fleets are vans and pickups.

While one reason for the boost is the improving economy, Farley says that the residual values on the Fusion sedan are making it attractive to large corporations.

“We’re seeing a whole new group of clients come to us saying we want to buy Fusions,” Farley says. “We’ve never had that before, at least in the recent past, and that has really grown our commercial fleet business.”

FoMoCo’s fleet sales grew 74 percent or 27,000 units in Dec. 2009 as compared to Dec. 2008. Ford expects to see a similar boost in the first quarter of 2010.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)