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Although Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) has not really been lighting up the sales board in recent quarters, CEO Alan Mulally seems to be on track to get the automotive giant profitable sometime in 2009. He may not have to worry about one specialized area within the Detroit auto giant, however. Can you guess which division that may be?

Try recreational vehicles. Ford's market share has increased in the motor home segment this year while its automotive market share has shrunk in several popular consumer vehicle segments. Although Ford doesn't brand motor homes under its own name, it makes more motor home chassis than any other U.S. company. Using chassis designed and built here in the U.S., Ford's no slouch when it comes to this niche automotive market. Ford makes the base chassis, which RV manufacturers then customize with a plethora of options (and weight) to market to customers.

Therein lies Ford's continuing market opportunity in this arena. The baby boomer generation is beginning to retire at rates that won't see slowdowns for over a decade. Are these folks going to buy RVs and tour the U.S. (and Mexico and Canada) at rates similar to the previous generation? The law of averages says that market will increase (hence the term "boomers) simply due to the large number of Americans (60+ million) in this age classification. Could Ford's savior partially be . . . motor homes? That's a stretch, but the company needs home runs any way it can get them. This is one of them.

Ford finding success in RVs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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