While overall sales for Ford Motor Co. dropped 4.9 percent year-over-year in the third quarter, truck sales outperformed 2019, according the automaker’s most recent financial report.
Ford sold 551,796 vehicles in the third quarter, a decrease of 2 percent for year-over-year retail sales. The company’s total truck sales saw an increase of 0.6 percent to 311,751 trucks sold, an 8.3 percent increase in retail sales.
Total SUV sales dropped 0.7 percent to 191,803, a retail decrease of 3.4 percent. Cars saw the biggest drop – 37.5 percent for total sales to 48,424, a decrease of 31.3 percent for retail sales.
“Despite the challenging pandemic environment, our retail unit sales were down only 2 percent, and we had our best third quarter of pickup truck sales since 2005,” says Mark LaNeve, vice president of U.S. marketing, sales, and service. “F-Series finished the quarter on a high note with September sales up 17.2 percent with over 76,000 F-Series pickups sold. This is a testament to our winning product portfolio and the performance of our great dealers.”
Ford’s third quarter sales were up 27.2 percent compared to second quarter sales. Its retail share grew by an estimated 0.2 percentage points, while Ford’s third quarter total share expanded by 0.8 percentage points.
The combined sales of the F-Series and Ranger totaled 249,997 pickups, which reflects combined sales up 4 percent over the previous year. Ranger sales gained 8.2 percent over the previous year, selling 28,350.
The F-Series third quarter retail sales were up 10.1 percent over a year ago and above pre-coronavirus sales levels. Total F-Series sales of 221,647 for the quarter were up 3.5 percent, and Ford saw the largest growth rate for the trucks in the country’s hottest housing markets. In the southeast, sales were up 18.1 percent from the previous year, while increases were 17.3 percent and 17.8 percent in the west and northeast, respectively.
Explorer sales in the third quarter expanded 73.9 percent, when 59,060 were sold out of a total 160,209 SUV sales. Retail share of the segment was up more than 5 percentage points over a year ago to 15 percent share of the segment.
Lincoln retail sales increased 3.5 percent, fueled by a 10.2 percent gain in retail SUV sales. Its best-selling vehicle, the Corsair, totaled 7,044 sales in the third quarter, an 8 percent gain.
Commercial van sales made a major comeback from the second quarter, with 59,092 vans sold, a 93.7 percent increase.
Mustang sales totaled 13,851 cars in the third quarter, and its third quarter retail share is estimated at 33 percent of the segment. Mustang retail share of the sports car segment was up more than 2 points.
