Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn released its March 2022 sales, which showed significant drops in total vehicle, truck, and SUV sales, with the only category marking a gain being electrified vehicles.
Total vehicles sales registered at 159,328, a 25.6 percent year over year decline. Truck sales took an even bigger hit, dropping 34.4 percent year-over-year to 74,420 sales. Although smaller at 9.4 percent, SUVs took a hit as well, selling only 81,280. Electrified vehicles accounted for some growth, totaling 13,772 sales, or a 16.9 percent increase.
“While the global semiconductor chip shortage continues to create challenges, we saw improvement in March sales, as in-transit inventory improved 74 percent over February,” says Andrew Frick, vice president of sales, distribution, and trucks at Ford. “F-Series had a record 50,000 new retail orders in March, while a record 41 percent of our overall retail sales came from previously placed retail orders.
“Our newest products continue to turn at a record pace, as Bronco, Bronco Sport, Mustang Mach-E and Maverick had their best combined sales performance yet, with 33,398 vehicles sold. Ford is ready to deliver and positioned well for spring sales growth.”
The company says March improvements in production and inventory will begin to lift sales. Despite the negative year-over-year numbers, Ford’s retail sales were up 23.2 percent over February. Overall SUVs were up 39.2 percent, while truck and van sales were up 12.5 percent.
F-Series took in a new record 50,000 retail orders in March — up 38,000 over last year, while trucks turn at record rates on dealer lots. F-Series in-transit inventory expanded 127 percent over February and 66.1 percent over a year-ago. Ford’s overall in-transit stock levels increased 73.5 percent compared to February.
Ford’s overall truck sales grew 12.5 percent compared to February while the new Maverick posted its best one-month sales performance since introduction. Maverick sales increased 115 percent from February, while turning on dealer lots in just 4 days.
Ford achieved record electrified vehicle sales year-to-date, expanding 37.9 percent. Ford’s electrified vehicle conquest rate is growing and climbed to 51 percent – up 6 percentage points over last year.
Lincoln SUV sales expanded over February’s results. Lincoln in- transit stock increased 16.6 percent to 3,495 vehicles at the end of February, setting Lincoln SUV sales up for a 26.4 percent gain in March.
