In attempt to turn around sluggish sales and appeal to millennials, Ford announced Thursday that it is launching four new sport-utility vehicle lines.
According to Autodata, Ford saw a 12.2 percent decline in sedan sales in January 2016 compared to January 2015. Helping to keep Ford afloat, their sales of SUVs and trucks increased by 1.6 percent.
Ford said that it is expecting SUV sales to increase, as Ford believes that millenials will continue to prefer SUVs over traditional sedans. According to Ford, the combination of lower gas prices and better gas mileage has led to an increase in SUV sales.
The average price of gas in the United States was $1.69 according to Gas Buddy.
“Some SUVs now rival the fuel efficiency of V6-powered midsize sedans from only a few years ago,” said Mark LaNeve, Ford Motor Company vice president of Marketing, Sales and Service. “And as baby boomers grew up with much less capable, much less efficient vehicles, they tend to appreciate the efficiency of Ford’s newest SUVs.”
Ford said that the new SUVs will be different from Ford’s current offerings, and the company will release these new units over the new few years.