Like its siblings in the automotive industry, Ford Motor Co. enjoyed an extraordinary month of sales during April, although it fell short of many of those fellow carmakers.
The company’s total April sales were up 64.8% on a year-over-year basis. It’s retail sales performed slightly lower with a 57.1% increase. For most that would be a stunning result, but many automakers turned in triple-digit increases compared with last April, which was bogged down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, it did have some segments that surpassed that three-digit benchmark, including its SUV sales which were up 119.8% last month. It’s electrified vehicles, led by the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid, skyrocketed 262%, the automaker reported.
Company happy with the improvement
“Ford’s retail sales not only increased 57% over year ago, but also exceeded April 2019 by 24 percent. Strong customer reaction to our newest products, despite tight inventory, confirms our strategy of investing in electrified vehicles, along with trucks and SUVs,” said Andrew Frick, vice president, Ford Sales U.S. and Canada.
“In April, we not only beat pre-coronavirus sales numbers from April 2019, but we saw record electrified vehicle sales for the month, along with record April Ford and Lincoln SUV sales. Trucks had their best retail performance since 2008.”
The jump in overall truck sales, 47.5% overall and 33% at retail, reflect the current problem the automaker faces with the semiconductor chip shortage. Despite the problem, F-Series retail share expanded 2 percentage points through April of this year in the full-size pickup segment. F-Series retail sales were up 19.7% for the month, while beating April 2019 retail sales levels by 9.3 percent.
Overall F-Series sales are up 14 percent through the first four months of the year and the aforementioned PowerBoost hybrid sits on dealer lots for an average of just 17 days.
SUV sales going strong
Not surprisingly, sales of the new Bronco Sport are going gangbusters, Ford reporting a 41.7% improvement compared with March sales. It’s apparently beating up on the competition too, Ford noted it’s conquesting 60% of its sales from competitors — most of them from Jeep. The Explorer was up 102% as well, posting its best retail sales result since 2004.
Broken down by brand, Ford saw its SUVs hit record high retail sales — up 125%, courtesy in some measure of new products, like the Bronco Sport. Ford SUV sales were up across the board, besting April 2019 by 54.7 percent.
Lincoln SUVs posted record April retail sales. Lincoln SUV sales were up across the board in April, with a total of 9,943 SUVs sold.
Big sales at big prices
Transaction prices set new records in April, which is due to the 94% mix of trucks and SUVs. Ford transaction pricing in April totaled $43,600 per vehicle. Bronco Sport, turning on dealer lots in just 13 days, produced an average transaction price of $31,800 per SUV — the highest in segment.
Mustang Mach-E is turning in just 4 days on dealer lots and transacting at $45,800. Ford’s investment in trucks and SUVs is not only producing greater volume, but replaces sedans like the Fusion, which produced an average transaction price of $22,600 in April 2021.
Ford’s gross stock at the end of April remains favorable relative to competitors. Ford’s overall gross stock position going into May was 265,000 vehicles, which is at the higher end relative to the overall industry and stands at 35 days’ supply. This compares to an overall industry with 33 days’ supply, Ford said.