Hell Freezes Over: Ford Postpones F-150 Pickup

(MoneyWatch)  In case anyone was wondering how well Ford's "You Pay What We Pay" promotion was doing to clear out stocks of the 2008 Ford F-150 pickup, to make room for the all-new 2009 model, the answer is, "not very."

Ford made that obvious by announcing on Friday, June 20 that it is postponing the launch of the 2009 F-150 by two months to "late fall," to give dealers more time to sell the 2008s.

Ford had a 142-day supply of F-150s on June 1, according to the Automotive News Data Center, up from 129 days a month earlier. That means that at the present monthly sales rate, it would take Ford that long to sell its inventory. A 60-day supply is considered optimum.

F-150 sales fell to 42,973 in May, down 30.6 percent from the year-ago month, according to AutoData. Four cars outsold the F-150 in May, which has happened on rarely in the last 26 years.

Given that the new F-150 is Ford's crown jewel, postponing it is a big deal. Ford also announced it was cutting truck production even more than previously announced.

The company also cut its 2008 auto industry sales forecast to about 14.4 million to 14.9 million light vehicles, down from a previous forecast of 14.7 million to 15.1 million. Ford also said it expects to lose money for 2008, which would be its fourth annual net loss in a row.