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Ford cuts production at 5 plants, has big backload of cars including Mustang

DETROIT — Ford said on Tuesday it plans to idle five North American vehicle assembly plants for a total of 10 weeks to reduce inventories of slow-selling models. The plants affected include three assembly plants in the United States and two in Mexico, the company said in a statement. The vehicle models include the Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ midsize sedans, the Ford Focus compact car, the Lincoln Continental and Ford Mustang, Ford Fiesta and the Ford Transit van. Ford said the Cuautitlan assembly plant that builds the Fiesta would be idled for three weeks. The Hermosillo, Mexico plant that builds the Fusion and MKZ and the Flat Rock, Michigan, factory that assembles Continentals and Mustangs will be idled for two weeks each. The Michigan Assembly plant that builds the Focus will be idled for one week, and the Kansas City assembly line that builds Transit vans will be down for two weeks. Ford did not give dates for the temporary shutdowns. The factories involved employ more than 15,000 people, according to Ford's website. The company did not say how many of those workers would face temporary layoffs. As of Sept. 1, Ford had 111 days' worth of unsold Mustangs, 87 days' supply of Fusions, and a 103 days' supply of Transit vans, according to Automotive News. Dealers had enough unsold Lincoln Continentals to last 162 days. Automakers aim for 65 to 70 days of inventory of most models. Ford and rival General Motors have wrestled most of this year to rein in high inventories of passenger cars as consumers have shifted to buying pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. Production cuts slice into revenue, but also could help the automakers avoid deeper price cuts on vehicles they can sell. Reporting by Joe WhiteRelated Video: Image Credit: Reuters Plants/Manufacturing Ford Lincoln Convertible Coupe Minivan/Van Sedan ford transit inventory flat rock kansas city assembly plant hermosillo

Buyers ditching expensive European sedans to buy expensive American trucks

The New York Times ended the automotive week with a story that adds numbers and context to a range of other stories, from the crossover craze to the increasing median price of a new car to ever more grandiose pickup trucks. The NYT piece reveals that the shift to larger vehicles isn't merely about the average U.S. buyer swapping the midsize sedan for a Ford Edge. Luxury buyers are migrating from plush sedans to plush SUVs and trucks that creep close to six-figure prices, and the Detroit Three are running Treasury presses because of it. From 2013 to 2017, the truck category — everything from pickups to minivans — climbed from 30 percent of the market to 41 percent. In January of this year, trucks claimed 66 percent of new vehicle sales. At the milk-and-honey end of profits, GMC alone accounted for 11.3 percent of all vehicle sales over $60,000, not just trucks. That puts the luxury truck maker behind Mercedes-Benz and Ford, The Blue Oval's feasting on Lariat, King Ranch and Raptor versions of the F-150, which make up more than half of that pickup's sales, putting it ahead of Chevrolet, Porsche and Lexus on the high-dollar sales list. The average transaction price of a GMC in Denali trim last year was $56,000; it's easy to see why, when one dealer told the NYT he just swapped a 2012 BMW 550i for a $71,000 GMC Sierra Denali. That truck starts at $52,900. The NYT started its story with a buyer who took home a Ford Raptor instead of an Audi A6, and optioned that $50,020 Ford Raptor close to $80,000. Over at Lincoln, the new $72,055 Navigator — the one so popular that Ford will increase production — crossed hands for an average sale price of $77,000 in January. And a Jeep dealer told the NYT that the two $93,000 Trackhawks he had on his lot "won't be here more than a few weeks." While trucks head up in sales volume and price, cars are headed so viciously in the opposite direction that "the Detroit Three and even some foreign manufacturers acknowledge they are now losing money on many of the cars they sell." So ... get ready for a lot more crossovers and trucks. Related Video: Find out what vehicle is right for you. Give our Car Finder tool a try.

Junkyard Gem: 1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass Edition

From the 1976 through 1992 model years, Lincoln sold Designer Edition members of the Mark Series personal luxury cars. At one time or another, the Givenchy, Versace, Pucci, Cartier, and Bill Blass brands partnered with Lincoln to make snazzed-up Marks IV, V, VI, and VII. I'm always on the lookout for these blinged-out land yachts as I patrol for Junkyard Gems, and I've managed to find a handful over the years. Today, we've got a tattered-but-still-glorious Bill Blass Mark VI from the waning days of the Late Disco Period. Bill Blass got his start in the United States Army, designing phony inflatable tanks to fool the Nazis prior to the D-Day invasion in World War II. After that, his company became a major player in the fashion world, and Ford put the BB anchor design on plenty of Lincoln Marks. This Bill Blass Mark VI got red body pinstripes and red decorative belting on the leather-upholstered seats. A faux-convertible "diamond grain carriage roof" went on the Designer Edition Mark VI coupes (you could buy the '82 Mark VI Pucci Edition as a sedan). This roof is on the tattered side, but you get the idea. The "wire spoke" aluminum wheels on the Designer Edition cars look much nicer than the wire-wheel-influenced hubcaps that went on lesser Mark VIs. The Mark III through Mark V were siblings of the Ford Thunderbird, but the 1980-1983 Mark VI lived on the new Panther platform and its closest relatives were the regular Continental and Town Car. Yes, this car is a not-so-distant cousin to the Crown Victoria P71 Police Interceptors that stayed in production through 2011. Under the hood, we see the good old Ford Windsor 302 engine, also known as the 5.0 V8. Power wasn't so great— 140 horsepower and 231 lb-ft— but the curb weight of the Mark VI came in at well under two tons, a 700-pound weight reduction compared to the vast Mark V. The Mark VI seems to be the forgotten Mark, overlooked between the rococo V and the speedy Fox-based VI. A digital-tuner AM/FM radio with four speakers and cassette player was heavy-duty audio stuff in 1982. A digital instrument cluster showed the world that you were ready for… the future.  This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. What's not to love about the Mark VI?