Ford delays new pickup 2 months, cuts sales view

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. will delay introduction of its new F-150 pickup truck by two months and further cut production because of the declining market for pickups and sport utility vehicles, the automaker announced Friday.

Ford also said its 2008 automotive financial results this year will be worse than in 2007, when the company posted an overall net loss of $2.7 billion. Its shares fell more than 6 percent in morning trading.

The company said it expects industrywide U.S. sales this year to drop to a range of 14.7 million and 15.2 million units. Ford previously had predicted 15 million to 15.4 million units.

Because of that, Ford also said Friday it will cut third-quarter production by another 50,000 vehicles. It now plans to produce 475,000 vehicles, 25 percent fewer than the third quarter of last year.

The company also says fourth-quarter production will drop 8 to 14 percent compared with the same quarter last year.

Most of the production cuts will come from extending the normal two-week summer shutdown at pickup and SUV plants, as well as shift and assembly line speed reductions, the company said in a statement.

Ford said it will now introduce the new F-150 model in late fall instead of its earlier target of late summer. The F-150's have traditionally been its biggest sellers and most profitable vehicles.

The Dearborn-based automaker also said it will increase production of its Focus small car, as well as the Mercury Mariner and Ford Escape small SUVs.

It also will bring production of the next generation European Focus and Fiesta small cars to North America starting in 2010 "as Ford confirms it is revising its product plan to add more small cars, crossovers and fuel-efficient powertrains, including many from Ford's acclaimed European lineup."

Ford expects to detail changes to its restructuring plan when it announces earnings in July. But until then, the company said it would make the following production changes:

— Production of the 2009 F-150 now will begin in August at the Kansas City Assembly Plant and in September at Dearborn Truck. Both factories will lose a shift of workers, with Kansas City going from two to one and Dearborn going from three to two.

— The Dearborn Truck plant, which makes the F-150, will be idled most of the third quarter.