Ford to shrink US dealer base over 3 yrs

By Poornima Gupta

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is planning to shrink its U.S. dealer network in the next three years to align distribution better with its current market share, Cisco Codina, the company's North American sales chief, said on Monday.

"We have publicly told our dealers as recently as our new model introduction video in Las Vegas last month that we would make a concentrated effort to align our sales to our number of dealers in the marketplace," Codina told the Reuters Auto Summit.

Codina said most of Ford's dealers are concentrated in metropolitan areas on the East Coast and in California, which he termed as "problem areas."

"I would probably say the East Coast is of particular importance to us and a concern," he said. "But equally we have markets in California and in other large cities that we would have to address."

Codina, however, declined to give a target for the desired number of dealers.

The Ford's sales chief initially said there were 4,600 Ford and Lincoln-Mercury dealers, with 1,500 in major metropolitan areas.

A Ford spokesman later clarified that the brands were currently represented by about 4,300 dealers.

Ford, the No. 2 U.S. automaker, has seen a protracted decline in U.S. market share, while its dealer footprint has more or less remained the same. Ford ended 2005 with a share of 17.4 percent, excluding its luxury brands, the lowest level since the late 1920s.  Continued...