Ford CEO: Lower GDP Number Won't Impact Vehicle Sales

Ford Motor Company F recently reported its first quarter results which were below analysts expectations. Following the result declaration, the company opened doors to its Silicon Valley research centre to drive innovation in automotive sector.

Mark Fields, Ford Motor Company CEO was interviewed by CNBC at Ford’s Silicon Valley research centre. In the interview, Fields talks about the need for opening the research lab and impact of lower GDP on vehicle sales.

The Lab

“One of our key priorities is driving innovation into every part of our business and part of that is having a research centre here in Silicon Valley ,” Fields said. “And when we are done by the end of the  year, we will have one of the largest automotive research teams here where we are staffed up about a third so far so we have about 30 folks in areas of autonomy, connected vehicles, mobility, those types of things. So, we are really excited about showing off the lab here.”

GDP Impact On Vehicle Sales

Fields was asked if he is seeing any slowdown in demand for new vehicles. He replied, “No, not really, I think we have to put the GDP numbers we saw yesterday into perspective. Part of it is obviously it was a tough winter and those may have had an impact on the GDP numbers and consumer confidence yeah it’s down, but still at a very healthy rate.”

“So, as we look at the industry, still relatively healthy and we report our sales tomorrow, but we should see an industry in the mid-16 to 17 million range.,” Fields concluded.