Gross sales of F-Sequence pickups and SUVs helped Ford Motor outperform its Detroit crosstown rivals in addition to the broader auto business withi
Gross sales of F-Sequence pickups and SUVs helped Ford Motor outperform its Detroit crosstown rivals in addition to the broader auto business within the third quarter.
Whereas Ford’s car gross sales fell by simply 4.9% from the identical time final 12 months, the drop was about half that of the broader business and smaller than the gross sales declines felt by Common Motors and Fiat Chrysler.
Such declines sometimes aren’t trigger for celebration, however this 12 months is something however typical. New car gross sales have recovered far sooner than many anticipated from the second quarter when the coronavirus pandemic induced plant shutdowns and shuttered dealerships, sending gross sales down greater than 30% in comparison with 2019.
“The business had a really sharp restoration from Q2 to Q3,” Mark LaNeve, Ford vp of U.S. advertising and marketing, gross sales and repair, instructed CNBC on Friday. “It has been a loopy 12 months however the business has been resilient and our sellers have performed an amazing job.”
Ford mentioned its third-quarter gross sales have been up 27% relative to the earlier three months. It additionally reported its greatest third quarter gross sales of pickups since 2005, in line with the corporate.
Shopper gross sales helped drive the restoration, whereas Ford’s fleet gross sales to companies additionally began exhibiting indicators of a restoration within the third quarter, the corporate mentioned.
“Fleet additionally rebounded properly. It was excellent to see that. We have been down 13.7% in Q3, however we have been up 137% in comparison with Q2,” LaNeve mentioned, citing gross sales of the corporate’s Explorer police interceptor automobiles.
Explorer gross sales rose 74% within the third quarter in comparison with a 12 months earlier. Ford F-Sequence pickups have been up 3.5%. Smaller Ford Ranger pickups have been up 8.2%.
Ford is “cautiously optimistic” relating to car gross sales within the fourth quarter, in line with LaNeve.
“We’re carrying actually good momentum into This autumn,” he mentioned. “Clearly, no one actually is aware of what twist and turns might come from a pandemic surroundings or the election, however actually Q3 exceeded expectations and we’re trying ahead to This autumn.”
Ford’s gross sales via the third quarter have been down 17.5% from the identical time in 2019. GM’s gross sales throughout that point have been down 17.4%, whereas Fiat Chrysler was down about 20%.