Ford Motor Co.'s sales last month dropped 21% year over year, the automaker reported Wednesday.
The Dearborn automaker's dealers sold 129,273 vehicles last month with Ford brand sales down 21% in the month and Lincoln down 23%. Retail sales were down 15% as Ford and other automakers still work through low inventory issues as a result of supply chain struggles coupled with high demand.
Ford noted it received more than 72,000 new vehicle orders for February for a 54,000 increase over last year.
"Our newest products are turning on dealer lots at record rates," said Andrew Frick, vice president of Ford Sales U.S. and Canada, in a statement. "More than 33% of our retail sales are coming from previously placed orders and leaving dealerships directly upon arrival. Our new products are conquesting from competitors at a rate that is 26 percentage points higher than Ford overall, including Maverick, Mustang Mach-E, Bronco and Bronco Sport."
Sales of Ford's electrified vehicles, which include hybrids, were up 55% through February, the automaker said.
The electric Mustang Mach-E saw a 46.5% drop in sales year-over-year last month, but for the year so far its sales are up 10% with 4,371 total sales in January and February.
Ford Pro recorded the first sales of the E-Transit electric van, but the automaker didn't specify how many. Ford has more than 10,000 orders for E-Transit.
For the year so far: F-150 Hybrid has 5,657 sales, the Maverick Hybrid has 5,431 and Escape Hybrid and plug-in hybrid have 5,457 sales.
On the internal combustion side of the business, Ford F-Series sales dropped 30% in February and are down 20% for the year.
Ford SUV retail sales are up 5.3% in the first two months of the year. Retail sales are up 131% over last year for the Bronco Sport and Bronco family, Ford said.
On the Lincoln side, sales of Aviator increased 14% in February while sales of the new Nautilus were down 4% over last February, though Ford said they were up 10% over January. The new Navigator will arrive at dealerships soon.
With demand high and supply still limited, average transaction prices at Ford were up about $4,100 over last year at $48,000 per vehicle.
