A Little Mustang, Lot of Trucks in Ford’s August Sales Report

It was all about trucks, trucks, trucks, plus a continued strong run by the Mustang, for Ford in August.

U.S. light-vehicle sales totaled 229,226 for the automaker, good for a 9.7% daily-sales-rate gain on year-ago, (one less day this year than last), a jump led by strong fullsize pickup and utility-vehicle deliveries. Cars made up less than 30% of the overall sales mix in the month.

The fullsize F-Series light-duty continues to gain momentum as inventory begins to catch up to demand. Sales totaled 66,718 units in August, an 8.5% hike daily from year-ago’s 63,853, according to WardsAuto data.

A higher percentage than normal of F-150s is being allocated to retail – about 80% of the mix in August, compared with a more typical 60%-65%. That’s one reason the automaker is bullish about chances for a strong finish to the year, believing it still has considerable fleet demand to fill.

Ford says it ended the month with 90,000 F-150s in stock, better than May and June levels, but still relatively low at a 55-day supply. A year ago, there were 173,000 F-150s in the pipeline as the automaker stockpiled units in preparation for the extensive changeover to the new model.

Also leading the charge are utility vehicles, which Ford says combined for 74,590 units in the month, up 12.3% by volume from like-2014. Inventories are turning fast on the Edge (20 days), Explorer (16 days) and ’16-model Escape (16 days), the automaker reports.

The month ended with only a 38-day supply of SUV/CUVs in stock, Ford officials say.

“Utility vehicles are hot,” notes Mark LaNeve, vice president-U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service. “We performed incredibly well almost across the board.”

Mustang is another hot seller, with deliveries up 76.6% overall and pacing 106% ahead of prior year for all of 2015 in California. “People really are telling us they love this design,” LaNeve says.

The Lincoln brand posted its best August in seven years with sales rising 10.1% on a daily basis, again driven by the truck sector. “And we believe that is against an industry that will be down (in the luxury-vehicle sector) year on year,” LaNeve says.

Ford ended August with 558,000 vehicles in inventory, equal to a 62-day supply. That includes 161,000 cars, 263,000 trucks and 134,000 utilities. That compares with a 75-day inventory year-ago on 155,000 cars, 307,000 trucks and 124,000 utilities.

The automaker says fleet sales made up 22% of its mix in August, up from year-ago’s 20%. To date, fleets account for 29% of Ford deliveries, even with like-2014.

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