Ford Sales Slump, But Trucks Hold Steady

Ford says its best-selling F-Series pickup posted its best October since 2004, but it wasn’t enough to lift the company overall sales, which slumped 11.5% compared with year-ago and were off 4.8% on a daily-sales basis, WardsAuto data shows.

Light-vehicle sales totaled 182,959 in October, lifting year-to-date volume to 2,118,082 units, off 0.8% for the year. Through October, car sales were off 13.3% while trucks improved 5.2%. The daily-sales average plummeted 21.9% for cars, but grew 2.6% for trucks in the month. October had 26 selling days, two fewer than year-ago.

Despite a 10.5% increase for the F-150 and a 17.4% jump for the Transit commercial van, the Ford brand recorded a 5.6% drop due to huge decreases for the C-Max (-35.1%), Focus (-38.6%), Mustang (-42.2%) and Transit Connect (-58.5%).

Lincoln followed a strong September with a 15.1% rise, delivering 1,222 Continentals and seeing growth for MKC (+4.1%), MKX (+12.1%) and MKZ (+11.0%).

Part of the F-Series record was driven by strong demand for well-equipped, high-trim versions of the all-new ’17 Super Duty medium- and heavy-duty trucks, notes Mark LaNeve, vice president-U.S. marketing, sales and service. WardsAuto data only includes light-duty pickups.

“High customer demand for our new Super Duty, including top-trim-level pickups, continues to boost transaction prices,” LaNeve says. “(The) new Super Duty is turning on dealer lots in just 18 days, and Ford’s average transaction prices are up $1,600 versus a year ago – far outpacing the industry average of $600.”

Ford reported inventory of 650,000 vehicles, a 90-day supply, a total equal to September’s 80-day supply and up from 622,000 vehicles and a 79-day supply in October 2015. The company plans production of 700,000 vehicles in the final three months of the year.

Ford’s sales reporting was delayed by one day due to a fire Monday, Oct. 31, at its World Headquarters in Dearborn. The fire interrupted power to one of the company’s main data centers used to report and track sales.

Ford’s results brought industry sales to 1.36 million for October, equal to a 17.9 million-unit seasonally adjusted annual rate. That topped the 17.8 million SAAR in both January and July, but was below year-ago’s 18.1 million, WardsAuto data shows.

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