Trucks, Lincoln Sales Among Bright Spots for Ford in February

Increases on the truck side weren’t quite enough to prevent a sales decline at Ford in February, as total U.S. light-vehicle sales slid 4.1% in both volume and daily rate (24 selling days this year and last) to 202,726.

The performance wasn’t unexpected, as WardsAuto had forecast a 4.8% drop in light-vehicle sales for the month.

The slump also showed up on the retail side, where Ford’s volume fell 3% to 134,576 units. However, that marked the best retail performance for February in 11 years, despite an overall flat incentive spend, the automaker says.

In addition, average transaction prices rose $1,900 from year ago, more than double the $750 increase industrywide, Mark LaNeve, vice president-U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service, tells financial analysts and media during a conference call to review sales results.

Fleet deliveries dropped 5% to 73,864 units, a decline the automaker blames on a strong year-ago, when fleet orders were front-loaded to early 2016.

What really took a hit were Ford car sales, where demand fell 24% in February as a result of the continued shift to utilities and trucks. Ford-brand CUV/SUV sales rose 6% to 68,820 units, the automaker says, riding on record Escape deliveries of 27,637 and a 48% spike in Expedition volume to a February high of 5,906. Ford is selling down the current Expedition in preparation for launch of an all-new version later this year.

Also posting a strong showing was the F-Series pickup, with sales of light-vehicle versions jumping 9.2% to 61,218, according to WardsAuto data. Ford says demand for Super Duty models was particularly strong, with retail gains posted in every region of the country.

The F-Series performance came in spite of aggressive incentives on the Chevrolet Silverado. “Our (incentive spend on F-Series) was about half Chevrolet’s,” LaNeve says. “So we’re delighted about our performance.

“We continue seeing strong consumer demand for the highest-series Super Duty pickups and the all-new F-150 Raptor, plus greater availability of 2017 model F-150s,” he says. “This drove a $3,600 increase in average transaction prices for F-Series last month alone.”

Lincoln was another bright spot, posting an 8.8% hike overall to 8,744 units. The new Continental sedan was a factor, with sales of 1,079 units spiking car volume 16%. But gains by the MKC (12.2%) and MKX (0.6%) also played key roles for the brand.

LaNeve says Lincoln ATPs rose $2,100 per vehicle in February from year-ago, “so we continue to be pleased with the progression of the Lincoln portfolio.”

Among cars, Fiesta dodged the downward trend, recording a 6.0% gain to 3,981 units. But most other models suffered steep, double-digit drops, including Focus (-31.8%), Fusion (-35.1%) and Mustang (-17.0%).

“These (negative) numbers are not exclusive to Ford,” LaNeve says. “We’ve seen a structural shift in buyer behavior (away from cars and toward utility vehicles). It’s very good for Ford, because we have such strength in SUVs and trucks.”

Despite those declines, Ford says its share of the car market was up from Q4 2016 and January.

The automaker ended the month with 682,100 vehicles in inventory, equal to a 79-day supply. That compares with 684,906 units and 95 days at the end of January. Of the February total, 156,602 units were cars (74 days’ supply), 200,392 were utilities (65) and 325,106 were trucks (94).

LaNeve says he is comfortable with those inventory levels, though production could require tweaking as the year goes on should the market shift from cars to trucks continue to gain momentum.

“(But) I think 74 days’ is a manageable number,” he says of the car stocks, “particularly in the spring season when cars do a little better.”

[email protected] @DavidZoia