As Rivals Flail, Ford Ramps Up Production

Hoping to profit from its rivals' pain, Ford will ramp up this year's third-quarter production 10% over last year's, in a bid to grab market share from GM and Chrysler as they recover from bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reports. It’ll be Ford’s first production bump in nearly two years. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said a source from Ford, though he added, “No one is going to gift-wrap it for us. You have to deliver the product people want to buy.”

Ford is betting that product is its super profitable F-150 pickup truck. The company’s car production will actually decrease to 150,000, compared to 184,000 last year, while its truck production jumps from 234,000 to 310,000. Ford is essentially gambling that gas prices, which are already creeping back to $3 a gallon in some places, will remain low. (More Ford stories.)