Ford’s Q3 US sales were up 27.2 % compared to the disastrous Q2 Covid shutdown sales. They were down 4.9% compared to a year ago. Ford outperformed an industry decline of 10%. Total sales were 551,796 vehicles, of which 311,751 were trucks and 191,803 were SUVs. Cars at 48,424 are essentially a hobby at Ford. (Ford Motor Q2- Sales Drop -53%. Debt Grows $10B)
Ford’s overall pickup sales of combined F-Series and Ranger totaled 249,997 pickups. This was Ford’s best Q3 pickup sales since 2005, with combined sales up 4.0% over a year ago. F-Series Q3 retail sales were up 10.1% over a year ago and are back above pre-corona virus sales levels. Total F-Series sales of 221,647 for the quarter were up 3.5%.
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F-Series saw its largest Q3 sales gains in the country’s strongest housing markets. Ford saw the largest rate of growth coming from the southeast, which was up 18.1% over year ago. The west and the northeast were also up big at 17.3 and 17.8%, respectively. Ranger sales gained 8.2% in Q3 over year ago on sales of 28,350 pickups in Q3.
Explorer continues as America’s best-selling mid-size SUV through September on total sales of 160,209 SUVs. Explorer Q3 sales expanded 73.9%. Retail share of segment was up over 5%age points over year ago – 15% share of segment.
Lincoln retail sales increased 3.5%, led by a 10.2% gain in retail SUV sales. Lincoln’s Q3 Aviator sales total gained 222% on total sales of 6,118 SUVs. Lincoln’s bestselling vehicle, Corsair, sales totaled 7,044 in Q3 – an 8.0% gain.
In a separate action yesterday, Ford said it is continuing to fix its global business, making changes in how the company is organized and operates to deliver “executional excellence that benefits customers and delivers sustained profitable growth.”
Jim Farley, who succeeded Jim Hackett as Ford’s president and CEO on 1 October, outlined goals and organizational changes during a virtual town hall meeting with the company’s global team. Farley said Ford plans to move with urgency to turn around its automotive operations – improving quality, reducing costs and accelerating the restructuring of under-performing businesses.
Ford will grow by:
- Allocating more capital, resources and talent to its strongest businesses and vehicle franchises
- Expanding its leading commercial vehicle business with a suite of software services that will result in recurring revenue streams
- Offering uniquely Ford fully electric vehicles at scale around the world, including Transit, F-Series, Mustang, SUVs and Lincoln
- Adding more affordable vehicles to its global lineup, including in North America
- Standing up new customer-facing businesses enabled by Argo AI’s self-driving system
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