Ford’s US gross sales decline narrows in Could amid tight provides

Ford Motor mentioned Thursday that its U.S. gross sales fell simply 4.5% in Could from a yr in the past, a narrower decline than in latest months, because it continued to see white-hot demand for its newest autos amid tight provides of recent automobiles, vans, and SUVs.

Ford and different automakers are persevering with to battle via supply-chain issues, together with a world scarcity of semiconductor chips, that has hampered new-vehicle manufacturing around the globe for over a yr. Ford’s month-to-month U.S. gross sales had been down by over 10% in April, and by greater than 20% in February and March.

A Ford spokesperson mentioned that the corporate estimates that general U.S. new-vehicle gross sales had been down about 30% from a yr in the past in Could, that means that Ford probably gained market share.

Ongoing disruptions to Ford’s manufacturing have led to tight inventories at its sellers. In response, Ford has supplied incentives to prospects who’re keen to put orders for his or her autos and await them to be constructed and delivered. Nearly half of Ford’s retail gross sales in Could got here from buyer orders positioned earlier within the yr, the corporate mentioned in an announcement.

With chip provides nonetheless restricted, Ford has been prioritizing manufacturing of its latest fashions, together with the electrical Mustang Mach-E crossover, the Bronco SUV, and the small Maverick pickup, in addition to its extremely worthwhile mainstays just like the F-Sequence pickups and the big Ford and Lincoln SUVs.

Gross sales of Ford’s F-Sequence pickups, an necessary driver of the corporate’s earnings, had been up 6.9% in Could from a yr in the past. Deliveries of the Mustang Mach-E had been greater than double the mannequin’s year-ago whole.

From January via Could, Ford has bought 763,558 autos within the U.S., down 13.3% from the identical interval in 2021.