Ford to Push Residual Value Message

Ford Motor Co. will trumpet the rising residual value of its vehicles with an aggressive marketing campaign.

“Resale value is absolutely central to explaining to customers that Ford represents the best value in the market, and we expect to leverage (that message) extensively,” says Jim Farley, group vice president-global marketing.

According to the Automotive Lease Guide's latest Perceived Quality Score survey, Ford was the most improved brand, showing a 7.6% improvement since fall 2009.

The average residual value of a Ford vehicle improved $2,420 compared with year-ago, according to ALG. The industry-wide average increase was $615.

ALG attributes Ford's gain in residual value to three factors: improved vehicle quality and well-received new products; avoiding bankruptcy and emergency taxpayer-backed financing, unlike its domestic competitors; and limiting incentive spending and sales to daily rental fleets.

Farley says Ford will begin driving home this message beginning this summer, noting it's especially important dealers communicate with customers the increased residual values of their vehicles.

“We are updating all of our dealer-education material and our point-of-sale material, especially on (Ford) Fusion,” he says. “We're going to have a real large training event in the third-quarter around the '11 Fusion, and that will include the resale message as a key point.”