• by Karl Greenberg , August 14, 2008

Ford has big plans for small cars. The company, which along with GM, Chrysler and Toyota suffered mightily from shrinking sales volume due to ballooning gasoline prices, has announced plans to shore up global sales and trim waste by moving from separate small-car vehicle platforms for different markets--North America, Europe and Asia--to just two.

Company executives, who revealed Ford's plans at the yearly Management Briefing Seminars held by the Center for Automotive Research in Traverse City, Michigan, said global sales projections helped drive the decision. Per Ford, compact vehicles now account for 25% of global auto sales, and by 2012, compact-car sales will increase another 20% to 6 million vehicles in North America and 25 million units worldwide.

The Ford Focus--nearly a decade old--is just one of six nameplates that Ford says will benefit from a push to build some 3 million units a year worldwide off of two global small-car platforms.

The next Focus compact car--due out in 2010, and based on what the company calls its C-car platform--will, the company predicts, bring a double-digit percentage improvement in profits versus the current Focus.

Ford's American chief, Mark Fields, told press and pundits gathered in Traverse City that the company's move has the benefit of simplifying the development process from engineering to sales and distribution. "We've reduced the number of orderable combinations in North America--including series, packages and options--by 90% for the Ford brand alone in the 2008-09 model years," he said in a release. "If you look at the C-segment, Focus will provide approximately 150 combinations by the 2010 model year--more than a 95% reduction versus the 2008 model year."

"The timing has been perfect for Ford to do this," says a spokesperson for the company. "The markets are converging. The vehicle sizes have gotten similar, and buyers have become similar [in North America and Europe]."

The North American debut of the European version of the Ford Focus in late 2010 will be preceded by another European car, the Fiesta, which will also enter the U.S. market in 2010. The company said it is also converting three existing truck and SUV plants for small car production, with the first conversion beginning in December. Ford has changed its North American product mix from 70% trucks and large SUVs in 2004 to 60% cars and crossovers today; by the end of 2010, per Ford, two-thirds of the company's spending will be on cars and SUVs.