Ford Trucks For Sale

Falling consumer demand for gas-guzzling pickup trucks is leading the Ford Motor Co. to retool its Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo to produce more crossover sport utility vehicles, union officials said.

Jeff Wright, president of the United Auto Workers Local 249, told The Kansas City Star for a story in Thursday’s editions that Ford plans to switch a second shift now making F-150 pickups and retrain those workers for a new shift building Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner SUVs later this summer.

Wright said the company told the union of its plans during a meeting last week in Detroit.

Ford wouldn’t confirm the plan.

“We’re still finalizing our plans and continue to work on all the details,” said spokeswoman Angie Kozleski. “Once that’s done, we’ll communicate what we plan to do with our employees first.”

The advance of $4-a-gallon gasoline has reduced sales for pickups and big SUVs, forcing automakers to cut production of those vehicles in favor of smaller SUVs and cars.

The Ford F-series has been Ford’s biggest seller for more than 30 years, but sales fell 30 percent last month, outsold by four passenger cars.

Wright said the second shift would stop making F-150s on July 17. Ford already had planned to cease production on the line the following week because of poor sales.

Following a traditional two-week summer break that begins July 28, the third SUV shift would probably begin the week of Aug. 11, Wright said.

“It may take a while before that shift really gets going,” he said. “We’ll have a lot of training to do.”

The factory in the Kansas City suburb of Claycomo employs about 4,100 hourly employees. Against the backdrop of a sluggish auto industry, sales of the Escape, the Mariner and the Mazda Tribute, a small SUV also made at Claycomo, have been relatively strong. The three combined have sold more than 99,000 units through May, or 7 percent higher than the same period a year ago.

Dealers, as of June 1, had a 50-day supply of Escapes, below the 60-day supply typically preferred. By contrast, they had a 142-day supply of F-series trucks.

Wright said he was disappointed in the shutdown of the F-150 shift, but he said the company has to change with the market. He also noted that when Claycomo last eliminated a truck shift in 1980, it was brought back a few years later.

“I don’t see gas prices coming down anytime soon, and as long as people aren’t buying trucks, we’re faced with this situation,” he said, adding that he was glad the move wouldn’t require layoffs.

Ford’s F-150 plant in Dearborn, Mich., is also cutting back one shift, Wright said.