Ford (NYSE:F) Cuts U.S. Dealerships in 2010 While Growing Share

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) was able to slash 129 dealerships in the U.S., a 3.6 percent reduction, while increasing its market share domestically in 2010.

The company ended 2010 with 3,424 dealerships in the U.S., down from 3,553 they had at the close of 2009, according to an e-mail from Ford to Bloomberg news.

Citing redundancy in some markets, Ford has largely eliminated outlets in the 130 largest market in the U.S.

Ford increased its domestic market share in 2010 to 16.7 percent, an increase over the 15.5 percent market share the company had in 2009.

Since Ford began consolidating outlets in 2005, they have cut about 22 percent of their dealerships since that time.

So far the strategy has worked well, but some say they have to be careful not to enter into a position of overkill, whereby they could lose the benefit of impulse buyers driving buy.

Other than that, it appears Ford is executing their consolidation plan very well.

Ford is trading at $15.83, up $0.07, or 0.44 percent, as of 2:08 PM EST.