Ford Motor Co. maintained its spot in the second quarter of 2023 as a top-selling brand and top-selling truck manufacturer in the United States, driven primarily by its internal combustion engine pickup trucks, according to the company’s sales report released Thursday.
Total Ford vehicle sales climbed 11.2% to 511,538 vehicles in the second quarter of 2023 compared with the same period a year ago, driven primarily by the strength of its trucks.
Overall for 2023, Ford sales went up 9.9% to 531,662 from a year ago, and up 10% to 1,007,568. Super Duty pickups continue to play a major role in making F-Series a top seller.
The breakdown:
- Internal combustion engine vehicle sales spiked 10% to 482,230 during the second quarter compared with a year ago, 10.2% to 920,206 year to date.
- Electric vehicle sales dropped 2.8% to 14,843 in the same period, jumped 11.9% for the year to date to 25,709.
- Hybrid vehicles climbed 15.7% to 34,589 year over year, up 6.1% to 61,653 year to date.
What drove hybrid sales? Maverick hybrid sales were up 153%, F-150 hybrid up 24% and Escape hybrid up 14.9%, Ford said.
Gasoline-powered vehicle profits are crucial to funding the company’s transition to electrification.
Q2 sales highlights touted by Ford
- F-Series, including the Lightning, jumped 34% to 212,516 from the same period a year ago, up 27.9% or 382,893 year to date.
- Transit van sales grew in the quarter 30.1% to 32,031; up 53.1% or 64,046 year to date.
- Expedition surged 52.4% to 20,007; up 72.3% to 39,366 year to date.
- Bronco Sport grew 12.9% to 33,272; up 7.8% to 63,143 year to date.
- Maverick went up 7.8% to 21,021; up 9.7% to 42,499 year to date.
- Edge grew 4.6% to 26,202; down 9.7% to 46,484 year to date.
- Ford E-Series vans grew 63.7% to 8,735; up 55.7% to 19,520 year to date.
- Escape up 28.7% to 43,690 after a plant changeover; down 12.3% or 64,839 year to date.
- Sales of F-Series trucks went up 27.9% to 382,893 year to date, widening Ford’s lead over Chevy Silverado at 264,070. (Note: An all-electric Silverado hasn’t hit the market yet.)
- Ford outsold all of GM in total pickups in the second quarter with 246,155 F-Series, Rangers and Mavericks vs. 243,773 Chevy Silverado and Colorado, GMC Sierra and Canyon, and the Hummer EV.
Which vehicles saw sales dips in second quarter
- Electric vehicles dipped 2.8% to 14,843 year over year (but grew 11.9% to 25,709 year to date).
- Mustang dropped 12.2% to 10,760 (down 2.9% to 25,471 year to date).
- GT dropped 95.5% to a single vehicle from 22 (down 46.6% to 31 year to date).
- Ranger sank 22.1% to 12,618 (down 28.7% to 24,118 year to date).
- Mustang Mach-E went down 21.1% to 8,633 (down 20.6% to 14,040 year to date); impacted by factory disruption.
- Explorer down 23% to 46,362 (but up 1.5% to 104,423 year to date).
- Bronco dropped 16.4% to 26,150 (but up 6.8% to 58,580 year to date).
- E-Transit van sales dropped 27.1% to 4,924 (down 3.2% or 2,912 year to date).
Lincoln brand dropped 15.2% to 20,124 from the second quarter in 2022 and dropped 8.9% to 39,058, year to date. Nautilus remains the biggest seller while Navigator sees the most sales growth. Lincoln is changing over to a new Corsair.
Ford vs. GM, Stellantis
General Motors reported a 19% sales gain Wednesday compared with a year ago for the second quarter, and it dominated the U.S. auto industry in sales for the first half with 1.3 million vehicles sold, an 18% year-over-year gain for the same time period.
Through the first half of 2023, GM sold 581,114 pickups and large SUVs, which comprised about 45% of GM’s total 1,295,186 new vehicles sold. The automaker reported selling 36,322 electric vehicles — 33,659 of those were Bolt and Bolt EUV vehicles. Sales of the Hummer were down 87% for the first half with GM delivering just 49. GM launched the Lyriq later last year so it did not have a year-ago comparison for the first half, but the automaker reported delivering 2,316 Lyriqs in the second quarter.
On Monday, Stellantis reported its second quarter U.S. sales climbed 6% compared with the same period a year ago. A key Detroit plant was offline in the second quarter last year, affecting availability of the Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Stellantis, which builds Jeep and Chrysler and Ram vehicles, reports sales as FCA US LLC. The automaker said it sold 434,648 vehicles in the U.S. in the second quarter, up from 408,521 during the same period in 2022. The showing means sales through the first two quarters of the year collectively are only off last year’s pace by 1%.
Mustang Mach-E
Regarding lower sales of the Mustang Mach-E, the Ford plant in Cuautitlán Izcalli, Mexico, which builds the SUV, shut down for a time to retool and increase overall production this year.
But Mach-E sales jumped in June, indicating potential growth for third quarter now that factory operations have improved and production capacity has increased, Ford U.S. sales analyst Erich Merkle told the Detroit Free Press.
“We had better inventory flow to finish out second quarter,” he said.
More:Bronco takes a bite out of Jeep in Q1 while Ford retains grip on truck dominance
More:Ford shows profits in first quarter, reveals EV losses
Lightning factory changes
While the electric F-150 Lightning totaled 4,466 pickups for the second quarter, Ford CEO Jim Farley has assured Wall Street that he’s on track to hit an annual production run rate of 150,000 in 2023. The factory that builds the Lightning in Dearborn is expanding. The automaker reports 8,757 Lightning sales year to date with sales ramping up.
Ford is increasing production capacity across its Ford Blue, Model e and Ford Pro operations to meet demand. Ford Blue builds the gasoline-powered vehicles. Model e runs the electric operation. Ford Pro is the business unit.
Free Press staff writers Jamie L. LaReau and Eric D. Lawrence contributed to this report.
Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.