Ford Motor Co. saw sales gains across much of its U.S. lineup in August, fueling growth of 27.3% over the same month last year and outpacing the automotive industry’s overall performance.
The Dearborn automaker sold 158,088 vehicles in the U.S. last month, up from 124,176 in August 2021. It saw gains of 13.2%, 47.7% and 307.3%, respectively, across its truck, SUV and electric vehicle segments.
Industrywide, sales were up 4.8% in August, according to Ford.
American Honda, which reported August numbers on Thursday, said that sales were constrained by supply issues. The North American subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., which includes the Honda and Acura brands, reported August sales of 71,461, down 37.7% year-over-year.
Hyundai Motor America, meanwhile, had August sales of 64,335 units — an increase of 14% over August 2021. Hyundai hit an all-time August retail sales record with a 24% year-over-year gain.
“We’re seeing inventory begin to rebound which resulted in strong sales this month,” CEO Randy Parker said in a statement. “Despite estimates of an overall industry decline our sales were driven by high demand for our product line of SUVs and eco-friendly vehicles.”
Toyota Motor North America’s sales slipped nearly 10% in August.
The differing reports from automakers who report monthly sales numbers “illustrate just how difficult forecasting new-vehicle sales has become,” Cox Automotive said in a release Friday. Prior to the numbers being released, Cox forecasted that light new-vehicle sales would rise 3.6% from August 2021 but decline 0.3% from July.
Analysts there were still tallying the August numbers Friday, but said that “early indications are that overall sales were consistent with July and June before that.”
The national daily sales rate has been “remarkably consistent” at 43,400 units per selling day in June, July and August, Cox reported.
“At the same time,” according to the auto information website, “there are sizable differences in brand-level sales volumes each month.” Kia, for example, had a record-setting August, even as Honda’s results were “abysmal” and the worst August in a decade.
Another difference from years past: heading into the Labor Day weekend, inventory on dealer lots is tight, with just a 39 days’ supply, Cox said, and incentives on new vehicles remain low — meaning “massive Labor Day, metal-moving sales won’t be a thing.”
For now, it’s the same story that has persisted in the industry for more than a year: until inventory levels improve, sales will be stuck in a holding pattern. Cox expects sales volumes to remain at about 1.1 million units per month.
“New-vehicle inventory remains essentially unchanged since tight inventory started severely limiting sales in July 2021,” Cox Automotive Senior Economist Charlie Chesbrough said in a statement ahead of sales being reported. “The headwinds to a sales recovery this year are growing as buying conditions worsen. Rising interest rates and historically low consumer sentiment are keeping many potential buyers out of the new-vehicle market.
“And high prices for both gasoline and vehicles are making affordability an even greater challenge. However, the lack of supply is the biggest obstacle over the near term, and there is little evidence of new-vehicle supply returning to a healthier level.”
Ford, meanwhile, continues to see strong demand, the company said in a news release. It had 76,000 retail orders for model year 2023 vehicles at the end of the month, up 41% from the number of model year 2022 orders it had a year ago. As the automaker increasingly moves to sell vehicles via orders placed in advance, it reported that for the fifth straight month, more than 50% of its retail sales came from its order bank.
Ford’s sales have been recovering on better inventory flow as supply-chain disruptions tied to the coronavirus pandemic have begun to ease. The automaker had 295,000 units of gross — which includes dealer stock as well as in-transit vehicles — at the end of August. That represents a 43-day supply.
Ford sold 5,897 EVs in August, representing year-over-year growth of more than 307%. Sales of internal combustion engine vehicles, meanwhile, climbed 24.7%. The automaker is aiming to build 600,000 EVs annually by the end of next year, and 2 million annually by 2026.
One of the contributors to the company’s EV sales growth is the all-electric F-150 Lightning, which started shipping to customers in April. In August, the F-150 was America’s best-selling truck (a title it’s held for decades), as well as the country’s best-selling hybrid and battery-electric truck.
The Lightning is turning over at dealerships faster than any other Ford vehicle, selling on average in eight days, Ford reported, and its top three conquests are the Ram pickup and Tesla’s Model 3 and Model X. The truck had its best month since launching, with 2,373 sales.
E-Transit, an electric version of Ford’s popular Transit cargo van that launched earlier this year, had sales of 3,938 units through August.
Ford’s flagship F-Series pickup lineup sold 58,283 vehicles in August, up 1.7%.
A 268% increase in Bronco sales helped Ford brand SUV sales notch a 50.4% gain over last August.
Gas-powered Mustang sales were up 56.1% in August, while sales of the all-electric Mustang Mach-E were up 115.5% to 3,120 units.
Across Ford brand SUVs, every model saw sales increase except the Bronco Sport and the Ford Edge. Explorer sales of 19,076 units were up 124.7% year-over-year.
Lincoln, Ford’s luxury brand, saw sales increase 24% over August 2021, boosted by gains from its Corsair and Aviator SUVs.
Year-to-date, Ford’s sales are basically flat compared to the first eight months of 2021.
jgrzelewski@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @JGrzelewski