Ford sales improve, SUVs post best month in 21 years

Ford sold 175,918 vehicles in October, including 94,449 trucks, 78,327 SUVs and 3,142 cars.

Despite its overall October vehicle sales falling 4% year-over-year, Ford became the top-selling automaker for the second straight month as it continues to bounce back from a semiconductor chip shortage that has ravaged the industry.

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Ford sold 175,918 vehicles in October, including 94,449 trucks, 78,327 SUVs and 3,142 cars. 

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The strong performance was driven by the company's SUV segment, which saws its best October sales results in 21 years. October SUV sales were up 12.8% year-over-year, fueled by the strength of the new Bronco, Bronco Sport and Mustang Mach-E.

Bronco sales for the month totaled 7,364, up 117% at retail relative to September, while Bronco Sport sales totaled 9,201, outselling Jeep's Cherokee and Compass combined in October. Bronco Sport inventory continues to turn very quickly on dealer lots in just nine days. Mustang Mach-E sales jumped 76.9% in October, with 21,703 vehicles sold year to date, coming in second for full-electric SUV sales behind Tesla’s Model Y.

2022 Mustang Mach-E Ice White 

Lincoln retail sales also gained steam, with an 8% jump from September as gross stock inventory continues to improve. Lincoln’s new Nautilus was up 15.8% over October last year and Lincoln’s Corsair was up 24% relative to September. Lincoln also saw a 21.8% increase in Aviator sales over September, as Aviator in-transit inventories expanded 6.2% over last month. 

Meanwhile, Ford's total pickup truck retail sales jumped 25% over September. F-Series retail sales increased 14.2%, while Ranger retail sales were up 60%. The all-new Maverick also completed its first full month of sales – adding an additional 4,140 vehicles to Ford’s truck sales portfolio and outselling Hyundai’s all-new Santa Cruz for the month.  

2022 Ford Maverick Hybrid XLT (Ford)

October marked an electric vehicle sales record for Ford with 14,062 sold in total, up 195% over last year. Ford's new E-Transit, which will begin production in a few weeks, is sold out and the F-150 Lightning has more than 160,000 reservations.

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The sales improvements come as Ford's gross stock levels have reached a total of 243,000 vehicles as of the end of October, up 7,000 vehicles over last month. 

The improving vehicle inventory has allowed Ford to fill customer orders at record rates, with 32% of October retail sales coming from a previously placed new vehicle order. This marks Ford's third straight month in which which more than 30% of retail sales came from orders, compared with 6% a year ago.

Ford took in 77,000 retail orders for new vehicles in October, up 25,000 compared to September’s new vehicle orders.