Sales of Ford Motor Co. SUVs and trucks drove an overall first-quarter sales increase of 10.7 percent making its Blue Oval America’s best-selling brand, the Dearborn-based automaker announced.
Sales of three-row SUVs were up 47.6 percent, truck sales were up 19.6 percent, and Bronco sales increased 18.3 percent. Elsewhere in the Dearborn-based company’s lineup, the Ford Pro Transit van saw an increase of 86 percent, Mustang up 5.2 percent, and electric vehicles up 41.0 percent.
Ford’s overall vehicle sales totaled 475,906, up 10.1 percent with estimated share up over a year ago.
Ford’s EV sales grew 41.0 percent in the first quarter on sales of 10,866 electric vehicles. F-150 Lightning sales totaled 4,291 pickups with production capacity actions on track to hit an annual production run rate of 150,000 this year. Sales by Ford Pro of the E-Transit, America’s best-selling electric van last year, climbed 62.7 percent. Reflecting downtime at the plant for changes to increase production, Mustang Mach-E sales were down.
Ford sold 254,023 trucks and vans in the first quarter, outselling General Motors Co.’s trucks and vans by approximately 27,000 vehicles. Sales of Ford’s overall trucks, including pickups and vans, were up 19.6 percent on the strength of F-Series pickups (up 21.1 percent) and Ford Pro’s Transit van.
As a result of the increased sales, Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant will add a third crew in April to increase production for the Ford Pro division of the Transit and E-Transit vans. Ford also is increasing production at manufacturing plants across North America to meet customer demand for vehicles including Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning, Bronco Sport, and Maverick.
“Ford is off to a fast start to the year,” says Andrew Frick, vice president of sales distribution and trucks. “Ford’s sales growth and investments are a direct result of strong customer demand across our truck, SUV, and electric vehicle segments. And this year’s highly anticipated new product launches with Super Duty, Escape, Mustang, and Ranger, will only add to this momentum.”
Ford Explorer was the best-selling, three-row midsize SUV in America, and the Bronco brand saw sales growth of 18.3 percent, including a 37.6 percent rise for Bronco.
BlueCruise, Ford’s driver assist technology, now is available on 186,000 vehicles and customers have accumulated more than 55 million hands-free miles driven with the technology.
In Related News: Following the release of additional guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department, Ford Motor has confirmed that all three of its currently available electric vehicles as well as its plug-in hybrids are eligible for Inflation Reduction Act federal tax credits in 2023.
The credit eligibility amount for each vehicle is:
- Ford F-150 Lightning: $7,500
- Ford Mustang Mach-E: $3,750
- Ford E-Transit: $3,750
- Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid: $3,750
- Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring: $3,750
- Lincoln Aviator Grand Touring: $7,500
For any eligible customers who take delivery of a Ford EV prior to April 18, the eligibility amount will be $7,500. All of these consumer incentives require the vehicle MSRP be at or below $80,000, and that the purchaser must meet certain income limits. Every one of these vehicles is assembled in North America, which is another requirement for the consumer tax incentive.
As an alternative to the consumer incentive, commercial customers are eligible for commercial tax incentives of as much as $7,500 on all these vehicles.
