Strong September Propels Ford To Top Sales Position

Propelled by improved inventory and new products, Ford became the top-selling automaker in September. August improvements in production and inventory paid off quite nicely in September as Ford retail sales were up 34.3 percent over the previous month. The automaker's retail share for the month was estimated at 12.9 percent, up 3.8 percentage points over August.

Senior Reporter John Goreham looked closely at Mustang Mach-E sales in September and posted an informative story.

Ford's September U.S. sales totaled 156,614 vehicles.

Ford Credits Products, Inventory

Andrew Frick, Ford vice president of sales in the U.S. and Canada, was enthusiastic about the automaker's sales success. He said:

"New products and improved inventories made Ford America's best-selling automaker in September. Compared to August, retail sales gained 34 percent, and we expanded our retail share by 3.8 percentage points. Inventory turn rates are at the highest we've ever seen, with 31 percent of our retail sales coming from filling customer orders. The highly anticipated Maverick had a successful launch at month's end, while the new Bronco is flowing to dealers with in-transit vehicles up 200 percent compared to a month ago."

Going into the current month, Ford's gross vehicle stock totaled 236,000, up 21,000 units vehicles compared to the start of September.

Meantime, vehicles are moving from dealer lots customers at the fastest pace of the year, while 31 percent of retail sales were from previous customer orders. It compared to six percent last year.

Customer Order Bank Expands

Ford continued to expand its retail orders in September with 52,000 new orders placed.

Ford's electrified vehicle portfolio continued to attract new customers to the brand at a higher rate than Ford overall. The conquest wave is six points above. September, meanwhile, brought another record for Ford electric vehicles. Ford's EV sales hit 9,150, up 91.6 percent over last year.

Reservations for the F-150 Lightning have surpassed the 150,000 mark, with more than 75 percent of these reservations coming from outside Ford.

Ford's highly anticipated new Maverick pickup posted its first sales report, with 506 sold at the end of September. Dealers are reporting that customers love the size of the Maverick, its maneuverability, and fuel efficiency. Equally as important is its favorable price point in the low $20,000s.

F-Series Has Its Strongest Month

F-Series truck sales continued to expand, marking the best month for the series since the semiconductor shortage began with 63,164 trucks sold. F-Series retail sales were up 13.4 percent over August.

Ford brand SUV retail sales expanded 56.0 percent over August, while retail market share increased an estimated 3.9 points to 10.1 percent. Compared to August, Bronco Sport gained 74.2 at retail. Mustang Mach-E retail sales were up 9.2 percent, while Explorer gained 155.0 percent.

Ford Sales Story

Meanwhile, Ford reported:

• Ford saw a substantial expansion of its commercial truck sales in September, up 16.6 percent over August. Strong gains also came from F-Series, which was up 36.5 percent over last year. Overall F-650/F-750 medium trucks were up 47.2 percent relative to a year ago
• F-Series continued to expand its lead as America's best-selling truck for 2021. F-Series lead year-to-date now stands at 100,059 trucks; this is an expansion of 23,487 in September compared to August. Sales of F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid with its onboard generator totaled 3,537 pickups. The highly anticipated Maverick recorded its first sales at the end of September
• Bronco is flowing to dealer lots with in-transit inventory up nearly 200 percent compared to last month. Bronco retail sales were up 26.4 percent over August, while Bronco Sport sales were up 75.2 percent. Ford recorded 77.3 percent of AWD/4WD SUV mix, which helped lower its incentive spending as a percentage of average transaction pricing to 3.9 percent. It is 10.3 points lower than a year ago and 0.6 points lower than August. Explorer retail sales were up 155 percent compared to August on improved availability
• Mustang Mach-E retail sales expanded 9.2 percent in September. With 18,855 Mach-Es sold through September, Mach-E ranks second in full-electric SUV sales behind Tesla's Model Y. Over-the-air modem activation rates for Mach-E are the highest in Ford's portfolio at 97 percent
• Retail sales of Lincoln's new Nautilus were up 37.5 percent over a year ago. At retail, Nautilus realized its best September retail sales performance in 14 years. Nautilus was Lincoln's best-selling vehicle for September. On the strength of better production and inventory, Lincoln's overall retail sales increased 52.6 percent, compared to August's results. Sales totaled 7,647 for the month, as Lincoln's entire lineup of SUVs posted sequential sales increases

Marc Stern has been an automotive writer since 1971 when an otherwise normal news editor said, "You're our new car editor," and dumped about 27 pounds of auto stuff on my desk. I was in heaven as I have been a gearhead from my early days. As a teen, I spent the usual number of misspent hours hanging out at gas stations Shell and Texaco (a big thing in my youth) and working on cars. From there on, it was a straight line to my first column for the paper, "You Auto Know," an enterprise that I handled faithfully for 32 years. Not many people know that I also handled computer documentation for a good part of my living while writing YAN. My best writing, though, was always in cars. My work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, AutoWeek, SuperStock, Trailer Life, Old Cars Weekly, Special Interest Autos, and others. You can follow me on: Twitter or Facebook.