Ford Readies Big Discount Plan for U.S. Market

Ford Motor Co. is launching a broad year-end discount program in the U.S. to boost sales and recover market share, Bloomberg News reports.

The Friends & Neighbors plan will give discounts as great as $2,000 on top of existing incentives on virtually all 2014-2016 models, according to the news service, which cites a dealer guide. The program won’t include certain performance cars and commercial trucks and vans.

The promotion will begin on Nov. 3 and continue to Jan. 4. Bloomberg says Ford wants to recapture market share it lost last year when output of its best-selling F-Series pickup truck was hobbled by lengthy retooling to convert to the current aluminum-intensive design.

Ford’s share of the U.S. market through October was 15.1%, unchanged from the same period last year but down from 15.9% in calendar 2013, according to Autodata Corp.