Ford Sees More Gains in U.S. Market Share in March

DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. expects to take a larger share of the U.S. market in March, as it continues to attract non-Ford owners to its brands, Ford's U.S. sales chief said today, Reuters reported. The U.S. auto industry overall is expected to have a stronger month in March than many expected at the end of February, but Ford's results should outpace the industry, Ken Czubay said in an interview. "We are having a pretty good month in March and we are finding the industry is having a good month, but we ought to outpace the industry again," he said. Czubay said the seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate for the industry in March will be "surprisingly good" compared with what might have been expected at the end of February. In early March, Ford said consumer confidence seemed to have reached a plateau. Annualized U.S. auto sales ran at a 10.8 million vehicles in January and at about 10.4 million in February. Most industry forecasters expect sales of about 11.5 million vehicles in 2010.