Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) Faces Trouble – 500k Vehicle Recall, The Quest For Market Share

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By Mark Michaels on July 15, 2014 Consumer Staples

Over the weekend Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) was slammed with an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 500,000 of the American auto maker’s vehicles were recalled for issues with its steering capabilities.

The car models in question include Ford’s Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, and Marauder from the model years 2004 to 2007. This is according to the information provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on their website.

The NHTSA said that they were investigating an issue that pertains to a heat shield in the exhaust of Ford cars that could possibly rust and dislodge, which could then cause the steering wheel shaft to jam.

The regulation department reported that it had received 5 complaints – where drivers complained of the visors smoking or flaming – and was alerted to 1 injury – in an accident where the car rolled over – pertaining to the steering wheel problem.

Kelli Felker, a spokeswoman for Ford, said that the auto company will fully corporate with the NHTSA’s investigation, and that it is in the company’s best interest to improve and guarantee the safety of its cars.

Ford shares climbed by $0.17 to $17.47 to close on Friday. Over the last three months, the company’s stock prices have risen by over 11%.

In other related news, Chrysler Group LLC issued a recall for over 900,000 sport utility vehicles – the company’s largest recall this year.

Ford and Japanese car maker Honda Motor Co Ltd (HMC) have announced that by 2018 they plan to create replacement or redesigned cars of 28% of their current annual sales volume. Most auto makers in the industry on average will replace roughly 23% of their cars.

John Murphy, an auto analyst from Bank of America Merril Lynch, predicts changes in the market shares of the big car makers. Murphy expects that over the next four years, Ford and Honda will each grow their market share by 0.5%, to 16.2% for Ford and 10.3$ for Honda, via the introduction of new car models. Another Japanese auto maker, Nissan (NSANY) and European auto makers will lose 0.2% of the market share in the United States, leaving Nissan with 7.8% and European companies with 8.3%.

In the auto industry, it is a well established fact that companies must compete for market share through three factors – low costs, superior quality, and product differentiation. Since there is only so much one can lower its costs and so high one can raise its quality, the key to winning the market share game is product differentiation. Therefore, the battle for market share is mostly based on the number of debuts of new models and replacement of older cars.

New models of cars are in the works for Ford. The American auto company plans to release new models of the Ford Fiesta and the Ford Fusion, as well as redesigned versions of the Mustang and F-series.

Honda is planning to debut a brand new HR-V, as a redisgned Fit.

After Ford’s sales in the United States decreased 6% year over year this June while the auto industry reported an overall increase of 1.2%, it is absolutely necessary for Ford to increase its market share.