Ford Motor Co. claimed victory as the company’s sales outpaced the industry as rivals such as Stellantis, Subaru, Mitsubishi, BMW and Volkswagen of America reported declining sales during June.
Overall industry sales were down 11%, while Ford sales improved 31.5% over a year ago, despite ongoing industry semiconductor chip and supply constraints. Share gains came from F-Series, Explorer and Expedition along with continued strong expansion of battery-electric vehicles.
Ford sales last year were down substantially as the supply chain issues crippled production, so it benefited immensely from the favorable year-over-year comparison.
“Amid industry-wide supply constraints, Ford outperformed the industry driven by strong F-Series, Explorer and new Expedition and Navigator SUV sales,” said Andrew Frick, vice president, Sales, Distribution & Trucks, Ford Blue.
“Combined, these vehicles represented just over 56% of our sales in June — up about 8 percentage points from May. F-150 Lightning was America’s best-selling electric truck in June in its first full month of sales, while our overall electric vehicle sales were up 77% over last year.”
Trucks lead the way
F-Series sales were up 26.3% over a year ago, representing 37.9% of Ford’s overall sales mix — up from 32% in May. F-Series has been expanding its truck leadership through the first half of the year, outselling its second-place competitor by about 40,000 trucks. Almost 60% of F-Series retail sales came from previously placed orders and as it continues to turn at record rates.
Ford total pickup sales, including F-Series, Ranger and Maverick were up 26.3% compared to a year ago with total pickups sales of 66,663 units. Ford’s total pickup share gained approximately 7 percentage points year over year — at 29% in June. This is the highest share of any brand in the total pickup segment.
Sales of Ford electric vehicles jumped 76.6% from a year ago, totaling 4,353 for the month. Going into July, F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E dealer stock is higher than last month, positioning both for a stronger July sales month.
For the first half of the year, Ford’s sales are down 8% as supply chain issues continue to slow production despite what analysts describe as strong demand.
Stellantis sales drop
Stellantis’ FCA US LLC had sales of 408,521 vehicles in this year’s second quarter. Overall, total U.S. sales declined 16 percent. Total commercial shipments in the second quarter rose 13% versus the same quarter last year.
“We continue to see strong demand for our vehicles. While there are certainly industry supply constraints, our dealers are working hard to satisfy the needs of every customer,” said U.S. Head of Sales Jeff Kommor.
“The Grand Wagoneer and Wagoneer have successfully launched with sales continuing to grow, sales of the all-new Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Compass continue to see high sales volumes CYTD, and Ram brand’s retail and fleet demand for its commercial products remains incredibly strong.”
Subaru of America reported a 0.7% increase compared with June 2021. Subaru also reported a 17.9% decrease for the year-to-date compared with the first half 2021. Subaru continues to face inventory challenges as the result of microchip and supply chain issues affecting automakers across the globe.
Thomas J. Doll, Subaru president, said, “We are looking forward to the second half of 2022 and are confident our retailers will continue providing an industry leading experience to our customers.”
Mirroring similar concerns across the auto industry, Mitsubishi reported supply constraints of many vehicle lines cut second quarter sales by 13 percent.
“We are pleased that demand remains strong, however this quarter was not without its challenges, as our sales were constricted only by the limitations of available inventory,” said Sebastian Mackensen, president and CEO, BMW of North America, which reported an 18.3% decline in sales for the quarter. Mini sales were down 45 percent.
Volkswagen reported a 34.4% drop in sales for the second quarter.
GM sitting on unfinished vehicles
Meanwhile, General Motors, in a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission disclosed During the second quarter of 2022, the company’s wholesale volumes were impacted by the timing of certain semiconductor shipments and other supply chain disruptions.
“As a result, we had a total of approximately 95 thousand vehicles in our inventory that were manufactured without certain components as of June 30, 2022, a majority of which were built in June,” the company wrote in the filing.
“We expect that substantially all of these vehicles will be completed and sold to dealers before the end of 2022. For the three months ended June 30, 2022, we expect net income to be in the range of between $1.6 billion and $1.9 billion and EBIT-adjusted to be in the range of between $2.3 billion and $2.6 billion.”
GM, however, gained market share in the second quarter selling 582,401 vehicles in the United States in the second quarter of 2022, and the company increased its sales and market share sequentially for the third consecutive quarter. GM’s second quarter sales were down 15% year over year, but market share was up one point to an estimated 16.3%, according to J.D. Power.
The automaker also sold 1,095,247 vehicles, a drop of 17.7% from the first half of 2021, but enough to beat out Toyota, which was the sales leader in 2021.
