DETROIT – Ford Motor on Tuesday reported a slight increase in second-quarter new vehicle sales that missed the expectations of automotive analysts.
Ford said second-quarter sales rose 1.8% compared to a year earlier, including a 31.5% increase in June. Analysts expected the Detroit automaker’s sales to increase between 3.3% and 5.1%.
Ford easily outperformed the industry during the quarter, as overall sales were forecast to be down between 19% and 21% from the second quarter of 2021. Automakers have been scrambling to rebuild dealer inventories that have been hit hard by production cuts amid a global shortage of semiconductor chips and other key automotive components.
“Amid industry-wide supply constraints, Ford outperformed the industry driven by strong F-Series, Explorer and new Expedition and Navigator SUV sales. Combined, these vehicles represented just over 56 percent of our sales in June –up about 8 percentage points from May,” Andrew Frick, Ford vice president of sales, distribution and trucks, said in a release.
Notably, Ford’s sales of F-Series pickups improved to 57,673 units in June – their highest monthly total of 2022. The sales include the F-150, including an all-electric version, and larger variants of the pickup.
Sales of the electric F-150 Lightning continue to ramp up. Ford on Tuesday said it sold a total of 2,296 trucks, including 1,837 vehicles in June.