Ford Sales Up 19.2% in September

Sales of Ford and Lincoln models rose 19.2% in the U.S. in September on a daily-selling-rate basis, WardsAuto data shows.

“We had a very strong sales month,” Mark LaNeve, vice president-marketing, sales and service for Ford, tells media today in a call to discuss September results.

LaNeve says Labor Day sales being booked in September this year vs. August last year, was a helpful occurrence, although he notes Ford had steady business throughout the month.

“We had a strong Labor Day period, we had a sales event that ended the day after Labor Day…but we stayed strong for the balance of the month. (It was) one of those really special, strong months.”

Light trucks again outshone cars, with the former category rising 21.5% and the latter 14.1% vs. like-2014.

Ford-brand vehicle deliveries increase 19.4% in September to 208,551 units, with F-Series sales of 65,613, marking a 14.0% increase from September 2014 but down from August’s 70,000 units.

“I can tell you overall we’re starting to catch up with commercial business and we anticipate we’ll continue to catch up as we work through the fourth quarter,” LaNeve tells an analyst on the call of Ford’s 17% fleet ratio for F-Series last month, shy of a more typical 20% fleet ratio.

LaNeve says Ford ended last month with 100,000 F-150s in stock, up 7,000-8,000 units from the start of the month.

He still characterizes 120,000 units in inventory as a normal level.

Of a possible strike at the truck’s Kansas City, MO, assembly plant, LaNeve says Ford works “really hard every day to avoid any kind of disruption. We’re confident we’re going to be able to negotiate a fair, competitive agreement with our UAW partners and we’ll continue to work in that direction.”

The next-generation of Ford’s Super Duty truck next year shouldn’t encounter the same slow rollout as did the F-150, he says, noting the production changeover will be “more normal” and without extended downtime.

Sales of Ford cars were generally positive in September.

The Fiesta B-car spiked 60.5%, but the Focus fell 16.2%.

LaNeve was pleased with Fusion deliveries of nearly 25,000.

“(We had an) unbelieve Fusion month driven by performance on the West Coast,” he says, noting the car did especially well in California.

Ford today and tomorrow is launching a new ad campaign designed to draw attention to its car lineup, he says, conceding Americans are increasingly enamored with light trucks.

The Mustang had its best sales since September 2006, he says, of the sports car’s 9,456 deliveries, up 187.5% from September 2014.

Ford’s Escape, Edge and Explorer utility vehicles rose 25.9%  to 28.0% in September, with LaNeve noting last month was Ford’s best September for SUV sales since 2003 and that Escape’s 28,473 units set a record for the month.

The brand still is getting up to full availability of its refreshed Edge CUV at dealers and the model is spending 22 days on dealer lots.

The refreshed Explorer is turning even faster, spending 17 days on Ford dealer lots, with the new high-end Platinum grade going in just nine days.

With van sales of roughly 17,000 units, Ford had its best September in the sector since 1987. The brand is the No.1-seller of vans in 47 of 50 states, and the new Transit is driving the growth, with 10,154 deliveries last month.

The smaller Transit Connect, however, fell 10.5% in September, one of just five Ford models to see losses. The departing Econoline van, aforementioned Focus, fullsize Taurus sedan and Expedition large SUV were the others.

Lincoln sales rose 20% to 86,080 units, giving the brand its best September since 2007.

“We continue to run the play with Lincoln and gain momentum every single month,” he says, noting the MKC and MKX helped Lincoln to its best SUV sales since 2003.

Ford ended September with 599,000 units in inventory, or a 68 days’ supply, up from 558,000 and 62 days in late August and 596,000 units in September 2014. However, days’ supply was reduced from year-ago’s 83.

Ford continues to see strong industry sales for the remainder of the year, predicting a 17.0-17.5 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, including medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

“We don’t see anything negative right now” to indicate a falloff in vehicle demand, LaNeve says, noting everything that should be low is low, such as interest rates and fuel prices, and everything that should be high is high, including consumer confidence, the age of the car parc and housing starts.

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