A Ford Motor employee inspects the new 2020 Ford Explorer before it goes off the line to ensure the quality of our customers.
Ford
Ford Motor reported Thursday that its second-quarter US vehicle sales fell 33.3%, in line with industry expectations, as the coronavirus caused consumers to stay home and dealerships and factories will close.
Ford’s decline was less than its city rivals. Year-over-year, General Motors reported a 34% decrease in sales in the second quarter, while Fiat Chrysler said vehicles sold fell 38.6%.
Vehicle sales in the US are forecast to drop approximately 34% in the second quarter, according to automotive research firms Edmunds and TrueCar’s ALG. The second quarter is expected to be the worst of the year for automakers due to the pandemic.
All vehicles in the Ford lineup, apart from the Ford Explorer SUV and the mid-size Ford Ranger, fell in the second quarter. Those vehicles increased 12.4% and 19.8%, respectively, highlighting that sales of such utility vehicles remained relatively healthy for sales to consumers.
Ford reported that second-quarter retail sales to consumers decreased 14.3% compared to the previous year, including a 0.4% decrease in truck sales and a 22% drop in SUVs. Auto retail sales fell 34.7%.
Despite the declines, Ford said its retail share grew an estimated total percentage point to 13.3%, the automaker’s best retail share quarter in five years.
“Our performance was largely driven by oversized trucks,” Mark LaNeve, Ford’s vice president of marketing, sales and service for the United States, told CNBC.
Largely due to the decline in its fleet unit, which includes sales to the government and companies, sales of its F-Series trucks fell 22.7% in the second quarter.
Ford, according to LaNeve, is optimistic about the recovery in demand for its commercial business, as well as retail sales for the rest of the year.
“We believe we are in good shape for the third quarter summer sales season and look forward to continuing some of those strong stock gains.” Overall, in an unprecedented and very challenging quarter, we had superior performance. “
Concerns remain for the rest of the year regarding a possible Covid-19 resurgence affecting the auto industry, LaNeve said.
Auto manufacturers in the US had to end vehicle production from March to mid-May due to the pandemic. They have also reduced or deferred executive and administrative salaries and withdrawn the guidance for the year.
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