Ford Motor Co.’s U.S. sales were 0.2% lower in July than the same month a year ago, as economic challenges affect consumer pocketbooks, despite freshened product.
Across the industry, inventory levels are up, prompting additional incentives to move vehicles off lots, though interest rates continue to hurt affordability, and credit card debt is increasing among Americans. Cox Automotive Inc. was forecasting a 1.3% decrease in U.S. sales in the industry compared to July 2023 at an approximately 16 million seasonally adjusted annual rate.
Ford sold 173,223 vehicles last month, and it claimed it was the top-selling brand in the country, estimating a 13.1% market share. New models of the refreshed F-150 pickup, new midsize Ranger truck, freshened Lincoln Nautilus, updated Ford Explorer and new Lincoln Aviator now are available. The company this week debuted a refreshed Ford Maverick small pickup for 2025, including a new Lobo street truck trim, set to launch before the end of the year.
Gas- and diesel-powered vehicles that represent 86% of the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker’s sales fell by 5% year-over-year. Hybrid sales rose 47%. Electric vehicle sales were up 31%.
Truck sales rose 2.5% F-Series was up 0.7%, including a 61% increase in the hybrid model for which Ford has expanded production volumes. That also included F-150 Lightning sales rising 82%.
Maverick sales in July increased by 70% over last year after its plant in Mexico added a third shift a year ago; that included a 65% increase of the hybrid version. Ranger sales rose 25%.
Meanwhile, SUV sales dropped 6.8%. Explorer deliveries increased by 49%. Expedition was up 4.8%. Bronco sales fell 30%, while the smaller Bronco Sport was up 3.9%. Escape fell 16%, and Edge, whose production ended in the spring, was down 59%.
Sales of all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUV were up 17%. Mustang coupe sales increased 160% from the same month last year.
On the commercial van side, Transit sales fell 14%. That included a 4.7% gain for the electric E-Transit.
Lincoln sales rose 14% year-over-year in July. Nautilus was up 27%, and Navigator rose 12%. Aviator was up 125%. Corsair fell by 4.3%.
An outage at retail management software provider CDK Global Inc. following cyberattacks in June that affected thousands of dealerships across brands throughout North America affected a few of the earliest days of July, as well.
General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV only report U.S. sales on a quarterly basis. Third-quarter deliveries will be shared in October.
Among other automakers who report monthly, Honda Motor Co. Ltd.’s U.S. sales rose 8% year-over-year, Hyundai Motor Co.’s were up by 4%, Subaru Corp.’s increased 2.6% and Mazda Motor Corp.’s grew by 30%. Kia Corp.’s U.S. sales fell 10%.
Despite some automakers posting increases, some economists are suggesting the Federal Reserve should cut interest rates. The Fed has said it’s looking for the core personal consumption expenditures index to fall to 2% before it does that; it was at 2.6% in June. The average new auto loan interest rate in July was 9.72%, up more than 0.5 percentage points year-over-year.
“Interest expense on credit cards appears to be crowding out spending on goods and services and is likely contributing to delinquencies and defaults on credit cards and auto loans,” Jonathan Smoke, Cox’s chief economist, wrote in a blog post earlier this week.
The New York Fed reported U.S. credit card balances rose $129 billion in a year by the end of March — an amount that if not paid in full would require $20 billion a month just to cover interest costs. Auto delinquencies year-to-date are up to 0.26% in 2024 compared to 0.22% a year ago and are on track to be the worst since the Great Recession, according to Cox.
“The consumer,” Smoke wrote, “was in better shape a year ago, but with each passing month, capacity to spend has been reduced.”
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