Ford Motor Company reported November sales were up 24% compared to a year ago with 147,338 units sold. Year-to-date, Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales totaled 1.74 million, up 21%. This tally – based on preliminary numbers – looks to be double the overall industry growth rate.
Ford said it remained on track to gain market share for the second year in a row – a result Ford hasn’t had since 1993. Toyota gained share three straight years running in the middle of this decade, a feat that seams long behind it now.
Share is estimated at 14%, the highest level since 2005. Fleet sales ytd at 32% is up from 29% for the same period in 2009.
In November, Ford car sales were up 25%, sport utilities were up 13% and trucks were up
34%. Year-to-date, Ford car sales were up 18%, utilities were up 15% and trucks
were up 29%.
Sales for Ford’s F-Series truck were up 26% versus a year ago. Year-to-date sales for
America’s best-selling truck buy provigil online reached 473,461, more than last year’s full-year total of 413,625. Production of the 2011 F-150 is under way with an all-new powertrain lineup, including a 3.5-liter EcoBoost and a new six-speed transmission.
However year-to-date Lincoln and the dead Mercury brand fared less well, with Lincoln only up 7% (19% in November) and Mercury 2%. Mercury at 3700 vehicles remaining is at a less than 30 day supply before extinction.
Ford plans to build 635,000 vehicles in the first quarter 2011, up 61,000 vehicles (11%) compared with the first quarter 2010. Ford’s fourth quarter production plan of 590,000 vehicles is unchanged from the previous forecast.
The company remains cautious about the size of the market, currently running at 11.5-12 million units, and the overall state of the economy.
Most industry forecasts for 2011 put sales at 13 million units.
“We are hoping that November will show job gains when it is released this Friday,” said Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, Ford chief economist. However, she characterized job growth as “gradual.”
