Ford in the US has announced that its iconic vehicles, commercial and electric vehicles (EVs) drove a first-quarter sales increase of 10.7 per cent making the Blue Oval America’s best-selling brand.
Sales surged across Ford’s areas of strength, including trucks (up 19%); three-row SUVs (up 47.6%); Bronco brand (up 18.3%); Ford Pro Transit van (up 86.0%); Mustang (up 5.2%) and electric vehicles (up 41.0%). Ford’s overall vehicle sales – Ford Blue, Ford Pro, Model e and Lincoln – totalled 475,906, up 10.1 per cent with an estimated share up over a year ago.
Ford’s EV sales grew 41.0 per cent in the first quarter on sales of 10,866 electric vehicles. F-150 Lightning sales totalled 4,291 pickups with production capacity actions on track to hit an annual production run rate of 150,000 this year. Sales by Ford Pro of the E-Transit, America’s best-selling electric van last year, climbed 62.7 per cent. Reflecting downtime at the plant for changes to increase production, Mustang Mach-E sales were down.
Ford is America’s number one selling truck manufacturer, with 254,023 trucks and vans sold in the first quarter, outselling GM’s trucks and vans by approximately 27,000 vehicles. Sales of Ford’s overall trucks, including pickups and vans, were up 19.6 per cent on the strength of F-Series pickups (up 21.1%) and Ford Pro’s Transit van (up 86.0%).
Andrew Frick, Ford vice president of sales distribution and trucks, said: ”Ford is off to a fast start to the year. Ford’s sales growth and investments are a direct result of strong customer demand across our truck, SUV and electric vehicle segments. And this year’s highly anticipated new product launches with Super Duty, Escape, Mustang and Ranger, will only add to this momentum.”
To support this momentum, Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant will add a third crew in April to increase production for Ford Pro of the best-selling Transit and E-Transit vans. Ford also is increasing production at manufacturing plants across North America to meet strong customer demand for vehicles including Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning, Bronco Sport and Maverick.
