The Shift From Japanese Cars to Fords (F)

As Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) deals with a barrage of product recalls and bad publicity, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) expects to pick up market shares in the U.S. as the automaker looks to pick up customers that had in the past purchased Japanese vehicles.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Ford CEO Alan Mulally noted that the company had gained market share in 14 of the past 15 months in the U.S., as the company moved past Toyota (NYSE: TM) and General Motors Co. for the first time since 1998.

"We're continuing to pick up more and more new Ford customers from our competition," Mulally said when talking about the Toyota recall. "We're getting a lot of customers that before had Japanese products."

Ford increased its year-over-year sales in the U.S. February by 43 percent to 142,285 units, while analysts sees a scenario where the company could stay on top of the sales charts for the rest of 2010 as Toyota is embattled and GM attempts a restructuring process following a government-backed bankruptcy last year.

Mulally said that it will be difficult to say what the complete impact of the Toyota recall will be on the American auto industry, but he did say that last year 30 percent of new customers at Ford last year defected from Japanese companies.

Around the globe, Ford plans to expand its market share to have one-third of its sales coming from each the U.S., Asia and Europe in the next five years. The company is currently building a fourth plant in the rapidly growing market of China.

"We're sized correctly for the American and the European markets," Mulally said. "We are accelerating the introduction of products in the Asia-Pacific and increasing production there as fast as we can, as fast as is prudent."

Ford is maintaining its modest forecast for unit sales in the U.S. for 2010 at 11.5 million to 12.5 million as the economy attempts to stabilize.

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