With the high price of gasoline, Ford will shift its focus from full-sized trucks and pickups and is now turning to smaller cars that are geared towards fuel economy and efficiency. Even with the launch of the F-150 Raptor, CEO Alan Mulally stated the importance of having a “full complement of small- and medium-sized cars and utilities that complement (Ford’s) larger vehicles.”

Mulally further said that the priority is to get the Ford Fiesta subcompact out on the U.S. market, preferably as early as possible in 2010. There is also the possibility of marketing the redesigned Ford Ka microcar in North America, though the CEO has not yet set a deadline for this decision. The Ka will be launched in Europe in 2009.

The critical factor here is the profit margin difference between small cars and larger trucks and pickups, where Ford basically gets a sizeable portion of its revenue from. The bigger vehicles naturally provide a larger profit margin. This is especially relevant, what with Mulally foreseeing continued downturns in the automotive industry in 2009.

Source: Autoweek