Ford Motor US Sales Reverse in September. Job Cuts Coming

Ford Motor Company’s September 2018 U.S. sales declined -11.2% on total sales of 197,404 vehicles (-2% year-to-date).

September 2018 was a tough month for comparison because of strong performance a year ago in 2017 resulting from pent-up and replacement demand following Hurricane Harvey in Houston. Although September 2018 also had some weather-related impact due to Hurricane Florence.

Nonetheless, when you peer through the p.r. flak, Ford Motor Company’s September U.S. sales declined -11.2% on total sales of 197,404 vehicles (-2% year-to-date). The only semi-bright spot is that Ford brand SUV sales are running at a record pace this year through September. Expedition turned in a 27.4% gain on record transaction prices of $63,600 as customers opted for more high series Platinum SUVs. Ford and Lincoln cars were a total disaster – at 37,112 in September (-26.5% y-o-y), and 357,278 for 9 months, or -16.6%. No wonder that Ford is preparing to cut white collar jobs but it won’t say how many or when.And while the F-Series exceeded the 70,000-truck mark for the seventh straight month, selling 75,092 pickups in September, year-to-date the F-Series was down -8.8% in September and up 3% year-over year to date. Still, transaction pricing is running at record levels of $46,600 per truck, up $1,000 over a year ago. Super Duty transaction pricing totaled a record $59,100 per truck in September.

Dead-Brand Lincoln was walking at a funeral pace with September sales down -7.2% at *8,168. Year-to-date is not much better at 75,280 or -9%. The flacks claim the all-new Lincoln Navigator “remains white hot,” with overall sales up 77.3%. Ahem, that’s 1,257 crossovers out of a total of 1,886 total Lincoln sales  in September. While Lincoln’s luxury SUV is maintaining a rich mix of high series vehicles – normal on a new model pricey vehicle – this is an expensive hobby, not a business.