Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is following the lead of General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) and is cutting production at two plants where it produces large trucks. Just like large SUVs, trucks are seeing sales plummet as gas sits around $4 per gallon for most of the country and drivers are reaching for the econo-car for those daily drives. Unless one really needs the utility a truck provides, trucks are sitting idle all over the country.

Ford will be shutting down a truck plant in Wayne, Michigan for nine weeks and a plant in Louisville for four weeks. Those plants are responsible for the Expedition full-size SUV and the F-Series Super Duty trucks. Both are staples of Ford. Or, they were until gas fill-ups for both started reaching the $75 level. Ford's sales for the Expedition has slid 31% this year, and the F-Series have tanked about 19% as well.

Ford will still carry on with its annual summer shutdown by idling all U.S. and Canadian plants the weeks of July 7 and 14, and the automaker has also retreated from its goal of reaching profitability in 2009. Looks like CEO Alan Mulally's Way Forward plan unveiled a few years ago could not have possibly anticipated gas prices completely interrupting buying patterns for Ford products. Preparing for the unanticipated, though, is part of the long-term planning process from any executive manager, right? Ford's road will continue to be bumpy all the way through 2010.