Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. market share for core brands Ford , Lincoln and Mercury "will be relatively flat" next year as the No. 2 automaker focuses on restoring profitability to its operations, said a senior Ford executive Dec. 18, according to the Wall Street Journal. "Nothing in our strategy says we must beat" Toyota or General Motors next year, Jim O'Connor, Ford group vice president of marketing, sales and service, told reporters. "We're focused on balancing our marketing equation to restore profitability ... and that's growing our retail share, launching our products on time with good quality," O'Connor said, according to the Journal. Sales to individuals tend to fetch bigger profit margins, compared to rental and other fleet sales. O'Connor said sales in the U.S. auto market so far this month have been "very strong."