Inside The Mind Of An Automotive Geek

The price of petroleum fuel is on the rise and consumers are looking for vehicles which are fuel efficient. But it cannot be denied that Americans love roomy cars. Thus, automakers came up with the idea of creating a vehicle that is large enough to be considered as an SUV in its own right, but has the fuel efficiency and the handling dynamics of a small car. The result is the crossover.

Ford is one automaker which has invested heavily in the development of crossover utility vehicles. And their investment is now reaping them success as the automaker sets the highest sales increase for crossover utility vehicles for the year 2007 at 62 percent increase.

According to The Auto Channel:

• Ford, Mercury and Lincoln crossover utility vehicles paced the industry's fastest-growing segment with a gain of 62 percent in 2007; Ford Edge challenged entrenched foreign models for supremacy among mid- size crossovers.
• Lincoln posts 9 percent increase in 2007, owing to new MKX crossover and higher sales for MKZ sedan.
• New Ford Focus up 3 percent in December (9 percent at retail).
• Ford's F-Series truck was America's best-selling truck in 2007 - the 31st year in a row.
• Ford's 2007 sales totaled 2.57 million, down 12 percent compared with 2006; more than two-thirds of the decline reflected discontinued models.

Jim Farley, Ford's group vice president for Marketing and Communications had this to say: "Ford Edge is a great example of our plan to build products people really want to buy. Demand is growing at a fast pace beyond the nation's heartland, our traditional region of strength."

Crossover utility vehicle sales for 2007 being very high, Ford is hoping to continue their success this year. Farley said: "We are restructuring our business to be profitable at lower demand and changed mix and accelerating the development of new products people want to buy. We have more work to do to reach our ultimate goal - profitable growth for all. But we have made progress in a short amount of time in several key areas."