CUT IN FLEET SALES LEADS FOMOCO LOWER IN JANUARY 2009

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Ford, Lincoln and Mercury car sales dropped 35.1% to 28,707. Total trucks fell 40.5% to 61,889 with the flagship F-Series pickup down 38.6%.

Ford said fleet sales, primarily to rental car companies, plunged 65%. The retail business slipped 27%, though Ford pointed out that it gained retail market share for the fourth consecutive month, a streak that hasn't happened since 1995.

Ford Motor Company's pull-back from rental car sales is painful but necessary. While rental fleet units keep factories humming at a predictable level (and yield some economies-of-scale profit potential), they drive down the residual values and brand reliability scores.

Moreover, with the a few exceptions, such as the limited-production Hertz Shelby GT Mustang, fleet cars are equipped as bland commodity vehicles. These vehicles tend to give potential customers the wrong impression of model features and flagship technologies.

Some fleet sales are useful, such as FoMoCo's taxi and police business. Fleet sales can also be used to highlight a halo or niche model that might otherwise be ignored in the crowded marketplace (Speedzzter wonders if Mercury might have had more success with the somewhat understated, underpowered, and overpriced 2003-2004 Marauder if it had featured it as a fleet model in place of the pedestrian Grand Marquis).

However, as Ford rebuilds its image among skeptical, import-biased consumers, reduction in fleet sales should have a long-term positive effect on brand perceptions, even if it causes some short-term "pain" through reduced sales.

RWD DODGE CHARGER AND PONTIAC G8 GONE IN 2011?

The current issue of Road and Track features a Battle-of-the-American-Pushrods shoot-out between the 425-horsepower SRT-8 Charger and the 415-horsepower Pontiac G8 GXP. The end of the story encourages potential buyers not to wait in their purchases.

Good advice.

Notwithstanding the precarious conditions of GM and Chrysler, the R&T story notes that the huge increases in Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards coming from the Obama Administration (not to mention even stricter state standards that will be rammed through by California and the nearly one-quarter of U.S. states that will follow in lockstep) will likely mean the death of rear wheel drive and high-performance V8s in the redesigned Charger and G8 by 2011.

Ford, of course, will completely miss out on this last round of RWD V8 super sedans. Its 2010 Taurus is still on the ill-proportioned, V8-adverse Volvo D3 platform. Although much of the bland, orthopedic-shoe styling will be gone in the next Taurus, Ford will enter the "last dance" for "American Muscle" with nothing more than a 350-horsepower EcoBoost V6.

That's a sad legacy.

However, one could argue that the die was cast when Ford failed to develop world-class RWD V8 sport sedans in the 1980s. Most certainly, Ford's failures to (a) recognize the resurgence of RWD in this decade and/or (b) make sure that the FWD-ready modular V8 would fit into its mass market AWD sedans were missed opportunities.

Hopefully at some point Ford will tap into its long heritage of popularly-priced V8 leadership with a "right-sized" DOHC Eco-Boost V8, featuring variable valve timing and lift, cylinder deactiviation, variable-geometry intake manifolding and other high-efficiency technologies. Sadly, that day -- if it ever comes -- will be after fuel efficiency standards have killed off the traditional RWD V8 sedan for years to come.