Ford Pushes New Models Over Rentals for European Revival
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Ford Motor Co. is counting on new models such as the EcoSport compact sport-utility vehicle to help reduce reliance on low-margin sales to rental-car companies in Europe to stem losses in the region.
Ford plans to lower its share of deliveries to rental fleets to less than the European industry’s 13 percent average by early 2015 from 17 percent now, Roelant de Waard, the U.S. company’s head of sales for the region, said in a telephone interview. The carmaker plans to continue boosting the proportion of sales to retail and company-fleet buyers, which typically order cars at higher prices.