Ford's (F) Efforts To Re-Conquer Car World Gain Speed

Ford (F) will launch ten new models this year. Merrill Lynch says that will bring the age of car company’s product line to an average of 2.4 years. In other words, Ford’s older models, the ones that were most likely to do poorly in the current domestic car environment, are being phased out in favor of vehicles that the firm believes will help it gain market share.

Ford’s biggest bet is on its new Taurus, a mid-sized car at a mid-sized price.

Ford, which has been picking up market share in the US, now gets to demonstrate whether its product development skills are equal to those that it showed in improving the company’s financial status. The No.2 American auto firm is still faced with a domestic market in where 10 million vehicles will probably be all that are sold in 2009. That number is not high enough to sustain Ford, GM, or Chrysler. To avoid, raising more money, Ford has to take substantial sales from its rivals or hope that the US economy recovers quickly and buyers stream back into the market.

Wall St. has not hedged it bet on Ford. It is assuming that the company will be relatively successful. Ford’s stock trades at $6.20, six times its 52-week low and very near the period high.

Douglas A. McIntyre