Ford Motor Co., joining General Motors Corp. in seeking to assure worried consumers, is offering to cover payments for as long as 12 months on new vehicles for buyers who lose their jobs.
The Ford program was announced today, after people familiar with Detroit-based GM’s plans said yesterday that the automaker starting April 1 will compensate buyers for lost resale value in the future and let customers who become unemployed return new vehicles without penalty.
The incentives come as U.S. sales of cars and light trucks continue to tumble after falling to a 16-year low in 2008. The recession also is pushing up the jobless rate, which may rise to 8.5 percent this month, the highest since 1983, according to the median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
“Consumers remain anxious about the economy and their own outlook for the future,” Ken Czubay, vice president of sales and marketing at Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford, said today in a statement.
Ford also said its credit unit it will offer no-interest financing. The incentives start today and run through June 1, covering Ford, Lincoln and Mercury autos.
The GM and Ford incentive programs for those who lose their jobs are similar to what Hyundai Motor Co. introduced on Jan. 2. The South Korean automaker’s U.S. sales rose 4.9 percent in this year’s first two months, as the industry total tumbled 39 percent.
GM’s support of so-called residual values will provide some restitution for customers who are unable to resell their vehicles at a prearranged value when they want a new car or truck, the people said, without providing specifics.
GM and Chrysler LLC, which are surviving on $17.4 billion in federal loans, have sought as much as $21.6 billion more. Ford, which lost a record $14.7 billion last year, is the only U.S. automaker not seeking federal aid.
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