Ford Motor Co.'s new-vehicles sales were down 10% year-over-year in October, according to results released Wednesday, even as overall industry sales rebounded from year-ago levels.
Cox Automotive noted Wednesday that the industry-wide results were "hardly a surprise," given that October 2021 was a "historically bad" time in the auto market because of low inventory levels. The industry information provider said early indications were that October sales results exceeded its expectations, even after it forecasted month-over-month and year-over-year sales growth on better inventory flows.
"Overall, it now appears the new-vehicle sales pace in October was the strongest since January," Cox said in a statement. "That's good news for the auto industry. We've been expecting some softening in overall demand, but not a full collapse. Looking at the initial October results, that's exactly what we see."
Industry forecaster LMC Automotive reported Wednesday that light-vehicle sales were up 11.4% year-over-year in October, to 1.17 million units — the strongest results since April. Still, the gains were more reflective of weak conditions a year ago, according to LMC, with last month's sales down more than 14% from October 2020.
The results by automaker were mixed. American Honda's October sales were down 16% year-over-year. Toyota Motor North America's sales were up nearly 28%. Hyundai Motor America's sales were up 7%.
Industry analysts are watching for how the Federal Reserve's latest interest rate hike will affect the auto market. The central bank on Wednesday again raised rates by 0.75 percentage points. Edmunds.com, Inc. noted that the latest time the average used APR surpassed October's 9.6% was 9.8% in February 2010 — but that the average amount financed for used vehicles at that time was $17,282, significantly lower than October's average of $30,707.
"New vehicle inventory might finally be improving, but the automotive industry is still on a long road to recovery because rising interest rates are creating a major barrier to entry for car shoppers," Edmunds analyst Jessica Caldwell said in a statement. "Many consumers who have been sitting out of the market due to high prices and limited options will likely continue to do so over high interest rates."
Meanwhile, Ford sold 158,327 vehicles in the U.S. last month. Truck and SUV sales both were down from a year ago, while sales of electric vehicles were up more than 100% to 6,261 units.
"Ford continues to see strong demand for its vehicles, with orders for (2023 model year) vehicles up 134% over this time last year," Andrew Frick, vice president of sales, distribution and trucks for Ford Blue, said in a statement. He noted that the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup had its best monthly sales performance — 2,436 sales — since launch.
Ford's other two all-electric vehicles saw increases, as well. The E-Transit van, which launched earlier this year, saw sales grow 71.5% over the previous month, while Mustang Mach-E sales of 3,055 units were up 7.3% year-over-year in October. Overall, the Ford brand's share of the EV segment grew by 2.2 percentage points from a year ago, to 8.9%.
Ford's Maverick compact pickup turned on dealer lots in six days on average last month, with sales up 123%, the automaker reported.
Mustang sales were up 25.1% year over year; also up were sales of the Ford EcoSport, Bronco, Expedition, Transit and Transit Connect. Sales were down for the Bronco Sport, Escape, Edge, Explorer, Ranger, E-Series and heavy trucks.
Sales of Ford's F-Series truck lineup, a huge profit generator for the company, were down 17.4% over October 2021 — though Ford reported that it's still America's best-selling truck.
For Lincoln, Ford's luxury division, sales were down 13.8% year-over-year to 7,196 units. Two of the vehicles in its lineup had sales gains: the Corsair and the Navigator, sales of which increased 8.5% on improved inventory flow.
Year-to-date, Ford's sales are down just over 2% from this point last year.
