Ford Motor Company retained its Number Two sales position in the U.S. during May by posting sales of 208,993 compared to a resurgent Toyota Motor Sales result of 202,973 new cars and trucks. If you back out discounted fleet sales, Toyota is clearly Number Two. Ford Motor was up only 6.5% (933,000) in a U.S Auto market that grew more than 13% year-to-date. Toyota Motor Sales was up 24% ( 868,000), while it still plays catchup because of production interruptions last year.
Whether Ford can retain the Number Two spot as it converts plants to build the new 2013 Fusion and Escape as well as the Lincoln MKZ remains to be seen. Ford is capacity restrained and during May it could have sold more of ‘high demand” vehicles such as the Ford Fusion.
As usual, the F-Series pickup posted another strong month at 55,000 vehicles, a 29% gain year-over year. However, the Mustang came alive during a good weather month, posting sales of 10,000 units, a 58% increase year-over-year giving Ford some distance over Toyota, which was within 1,614 units of Ford in April.
Mustang also bested Chevrolet Camaro by 1,000, a reversal for Chevy which has been consistently outselling the original pony car since its revision two years ago.
