Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales were off 4% year-over-year in October, but it posted strong results from new SUVs and trucks in its product lineup and was able to boost inventories amid a lingering shortage of semiconductor chips.
Ford sold 175,918 vehicles in its largest market last month, down 4% from October 2020. Though truck sales were off 7%, SUV sales were up 12.8% and the automaker reported that SUVs under the Ford brand had their best retail sales month in 21 years, driven by sales of the new Bronco Sport, Bronco and Mustang Mach-E.
"Continuous improvement in inventories and new products made Ford the best-selling automaker in America for the second month in a row, which was last accomplished 23 years ago," Andrew Frick, Ford's vice president of sales for the U.S. and Canada, said in a statement. "F-Series, strong SUV sales driven by Bronco, Bronco Sport, Mustang Mach-E, and the first full month of Maverick sales really fueled our performance."
After being hit harder than many of its competitors early on in the chip shortage, Ford has started to see its inventory situation improve. At the end of October, the automaker reported having 243,000 vehicles in gross stock, up 7,000 over September.
Ford also highlighted the growth it saw in retail orders for new vehicles. It had 77,000 retail orders last month, up by 25,000 from September. Thirty-two percent of retail sales in October came from orders customers placed in advance, a system Ford executives have said the company is trying to move toward. October marked the third straight month in which more than 30% of retail sales came from orders, compared with 6% a year ago.
Meanwhile, Ford also reported record sales of its burgeoning electrified vehicle lineup. Sales of hybrid and battery-electric vehicles totaled 14,062, up 195% year-over-year. The automaker reported that its forthcoming E-Transit commercial van is sold out ahead of its launch in the coming weeks and that it now has more than 160,000 reservations for the all-electric F-150 Lightning.
The Maverick, a compact pickup truck Ford recently launched, had 4,140 sales in its first full month on the market.
Ford reported that in-transit inventory of its new Bronco SUV was up 11.7% over September as the company works through an issue with hardtop roofs that caused some deliveries of the hotly-anticipated vehicle to be delayed. Bronco had 7,364 sales in October. Sales of the smaller Bronco Sport totaled 9,201.
Lincoln brand sales were down 17% in October. Mustang car sales were off 30.1%. EcoSport, Escape, Edge, Explorer and Expedition sales were all down for the month. And Ford's flagship F-Series saw sales decline 4.7% year-over-year.
Year-to-date, Ford's sales are down 6.6%.
