Ford, Toyota Announce Modest Price Hikes for ’87

Preliminary price increases on Ford Motor’s 1987 cars range from 3.2% to 9% above prices at the end of the 1986 model year, the company said Friday.

Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., a subsidiary of the Japanese auto maker, said prices on 1987 models will average 3.3% more than on this year’s models.

Ford will announce final base prices for next year’s cars on Oct. 3, said Bill Carroll, a spokesman for the nation’s second-largest auto maker.

Official prices “historically are just about the same” as the preliminary prices, Carroll said. The preliminary prices give dealers protection in case the final prices differ.

Carroll declined to specify an average percentage price increase. The range would place it above the 2.6% average price increase announced last week by No. 1 General Motors.

Chrysler, the nation’s No. 3 auto maker, last month said it tentatively had decided to raise 1987 car prices by less than 2% on average over 1986 prices.

Carroll said the 1987 Ford prices include additional equipment, such as air-conditioning, electronic fuel-injected engines and passive safety restraints, that weren’t standard on the 1986 models.

The price of the low-end hatchback Escort Pony rose by 3.2%, or $202, to $6,436.

The price of the mid-range Taurus GL four-door rose in price by 3.2%, or $356, to $11,498.

At the upper end of the range, the Grand Marquis LS rose in price by 9%, or $1,418, to $15,672, Ford said.

Toyota’s 3.3% average increase came after a year in which prices rose by about 9% because of the devaluation of the U.S. dollar against the Japanese yen.