Ford is to make more of its cars cheaper in terms of company car tax by cutting list prices by between £2,500 and £3,000.
The decision to reduce prices follows the recent launch of the revised S-MAX and Galaxy MPVs that went on sale at 12% below the outgoing models. The revised S-Max costs from £20,645, the Galaxy from £22,945 while the Mondeo is now priced from £17,295.
The plan now is for this approach to extend to other cars in the line-up, such as the Fiesta or Focus. As a result, a Fiesta's lead-in price would fall to under £10,000 while an entry-level Focus would be around £15,500.
The idea is to reduce the tax burden for company car users and make the pricing structure more transparent, competitive and understandable for potential customers.
As a result the transaction price - the price most customers pay after haggling - will become the sticker price or 'Blue Tag' price as Ford is calling it. However, up until the new prices have been introduced Ford customers must still negotiate to get the discounts.
Ford's head of marketing Mark Simpson said: 'If you buy a Fiesta or Focus today, the discounted price you pay will be the eventual 'Blue Tag' price.
'We've already reduced prices on the Mondeo and we're looking at the rest of the range. The system looks like it's working but we will study it before rolling it out to other models.'
Mr Simpson assured would-be buyers that the new price cuts would not affect residuals, insisting that the cuts would, in turn, stabilise resale values.