To put the F-Series sales of 60,000 in October in perspective, consider that in one month it has outsold the year-to-date sales of Volvo cars, or Jaguar Land Rover, or Porsche.
Ford Motor Company’s U.S. October sales of 191,985 vehicles increased 14% compared to October 2012 that was severely depressed because of Hurricane Sandy. In an overall market that rose 11%, with extremely weak results for the first two weeks of the Republican-led government shutdown.
This was worse than a hurricane since it was man-made and avoidable. Because of this, the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Selling Rate, aka SAAR, dropped to only 15.2 million vehicles.
The company’s good results were once again led by the F-Series pickup truck with October sales of 63,803 trucks, up 13%, making this the sixth straight month above the 60,000-vehicle mark for F-Series. The last time Ford sold more than 60,000 trucks for six consecutive months was 2006 when it was in deep financial trouble.
Overall, the U.S. light truck market so far in 2013 is showing double the rate of growth at 11% (6.44 million ytd) compared to (6.55 million). Barring sudden increases in gasoline prices, trucks will once again outsell cars when the books close on 2013.
Ford did sell some cars. Fusion sales of 21,740 vehicles increased 71% year-over-year, making it the car’s best-ever sales performance for October (Toyota Camry 29,144, Honda Accord 25,162, and Nissan Altima 21,785). The strongest growth for Fusion is in the west region of the U.S., with retail sales up 77%. In the eastern region of the country, Fusion retail sales are up 65%. Escape sales of 22,253 vehicles increased 12%, and Fiesta sales of 4,337 vehicles increased 9% – setting a new record for October.
The moribund Lincoln brand showed a pulse at 7,131 vehicles now that the much delayed MK-Z is finally shipping (2,909); Year-to-date Lincoln at 66,983 is off -3% – not enough to keep dealers going who have built new facilities.
