With a boost from its electrified vehicles, Ford U.S. sales outperformed the industry during May as it boosted its market share and slid past rival Toyota in total sales.
Ford, which reported an overall decline of 4.5%, sold a total of 154,461 vehicles in May while Toyota Motor North America, last year’s sales leader, sold 154,223 vehicles last month as its sales dropped by double digits, according to the figures released by both companies.
Ford’s market share increased 3.5% compared with last year to 13.5%, despite the continued global industry semiconductor chip shortage, the automaker said. The company’s top performers were battery-electric vehicles, F-Series and SUVs.
In addition, nearly 50% of Ford’s retail sales were comprised of previously placed orders compared to approximately 9% at this time last year, the automaker reported.
BEVs contribute to sales totals
Ford battery-electric vehicle sales totaled 6,254 for the month, up 222% over last year, while growing almost four times faster than the overall U.S. electric vehicle segment in May. The Mustang Mach-E posted a new monthly sales record — up 166% over last year. Meanwhile E-Transit sales had its best monthly sales since its launch earlier this year with 874 vans sold, and the F-150 Lightning recorded its first customer sales at the end of May, Ford reported.
“While the global semiconductor chip shortage remains an issue for the industry, our inventory continues to turn at record rates with nearly 50 percent of our retail sales coming from previously placed orders,” said Andrew Frick, Ford vice president for sales and marketing for the U.S. and Canada.
“Our newest models, including Bronco, Bronco Sport and Maverick, continue to enhance our sales volume. Our electric vehicle sales, with the addition of F-150 Lightning this month, increased 222% – growing at almost four times the rate of the industry.”
Pickups go big — even when small
While General Motors and Stellantis do not report sales total monthly, Ford also claimed F-Series was the only full-size pickup nameplate to post a gain in May over a year ago, with sales up 6.9 %.
The F-Series was able to improve on its sales lead, outselling its second-place competitor by 24,300 pickups through May, as built its lead over domestic rivals such as Chevrolet, GMC and Ram. The full-size pickups continued to turn at record rates, while 59% of its retail sales in May came from previously place orders.
It wasn’t just full-size trucks performing well. The new Maverick added an additional 6,089 truck sales in May, while turning on dealer lots in just five days and 97% of Maverick retail sales in May came from previously place
The others
Mazda Motor North American Operations reported total May sales dropped of 63.7% compared to May 2021, following the pattern, which prevailed among Asian automakers in May. Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Hyundai and Kia all reported sales decline by double digits last month as the inventory of new vehicles continued to vanish from dealer lots.
“U.S. light-vehicle sales continue to be held back by inventory, which muddies the water for evaluating how quickly or how severely consumer concerns over inflation and rising fuel prices are affecting purchasing behavior,” noted Stephanie Brinley, S&P Global Mobility lead analyst.
“Automakers reporting so far continue to see improvements in sales of electrified vehicles, reflecting both interest from consumers and production priorities for automakers.”