The second largest U.S. automaker, Ford (F, Financial), reported robust November sales, beating analysts’ expectations. U.S. sales surged 6.7% year over year to 210,771 units. The sales gain was powered by solid demand for fleet vehicles as well as high-margin SUVs (up 4.1% year over year). Here’s a deep insight into the company’s performance in the U.S. market for November.
Source: www.goodcarbadcar.net
A snapshot of the month
The company’s retail sales soared 1.3% year over year to 156,064 units while fleet sales spiked 25.9% to 54,707 vehicles. Ford’s Edge crossover sales improved 22.5% while sales of Explorer SUV climbed nearly 25% year over year. The company said that it was Explorer’s best monthly performance in 12 years.
Car sales have also increased 2% in November despite the fact that there is a shift in consumers' preferences from small cars to larger vehicles. Car sales improved on the back of better performance of Fiesta and Focus.
F-Series dominated the market
What remained the highlight of the month were tremendous sales of F-Series pickup trucks which amounted to 72,769 vehicles (up 1% year over year). In fact, the combined sales of all Ford and Lincoln brand passenger cars came to around 45,000 units, which was less than the amount of F-Series sales.
Mark LaNeve, Ford’s vice president of U.S. marketing sales and service, said, “Strong customer demand for MotorTrend’s new Truck of the Year drove F-Series sales past the 70,000 mark last month, a November number achieved just three other times in history,"Â
"In addition, Ford brand SUVs continued their outstanding performance with sales up 13% for their best November since 2000," he added.
The F-Series truck growth was powered by robust performance of King Ranch and other newly launched variants of Super Duty trucks. As a matter of fact, the Blue Oval’s newly launched 2018 F-150 truck had also put up a good show in November. The average transaction price (ATP) of F-Series trucks stood at $47,100, up 9% from the same period last year.
Ford’s F-Series sales have increased in all the months of the year except April. Larger vehicles have been the key to Ford’s success. F-Series truck demands have remained steady and consistent throughout the year and they will definitely be the key to Ford’s profitability.
Source: www.goodcarbadcar.net
Last word
Over the past few months, it is the SUVs and trucks that were sold in huge numbers as compared with smaller cars. Robust November sales give Ford momentum not only to enter the last month of the year with zeal and confidence but also to end the fourth quarter of the year with robust sales figures. Let’s stay tuned for December figures.
Disclosure: I do not hold any position in the stock mentioned in this article.
