October marked the first month when Ford Motor Co.’s sales declined by 5.3% as a result of the United Auto Workers’ strike against the Detroit manufacturers, which stopped production at several assembly plants.
Ford’s sales down revealed on Thursday that sales of its cars fell to 149,938 last month from 158,327 in October 2022.
Sales of hybrid cars set a new monthly record with a gain of 37.9%, while sales of internal combustion engine cars, which account for the majority of Ford’s volume, decreased by 8.8%. Sales of electric vehicles increased by 9.1%. The business has been concentrating more on increasing the sales of hybrid cars, which are becoming more and more well-liked by consumers.
Truck sales decreased by 10.5% in October, while SUV sales were practically unchanged from the same month last year. Car sales increased by 10.7%.
In October, several Ford nameplates went down, including the F-Series trucks, Ranger pickups, Bronco SUV, electric Mustang Mach-E crossover, Transit and Transit Connect cargo vans, and heavy trucks. Bronco Sport, Escape, Edge, Explorer, Maverick, and E-Series sales were all up. The electric F-150 Lightning saw a more than 50% increase in sales.
For the month, Mustang saw an 11% increase in sales. Sales of Ford’s sales down high-end Lincoln brand decreased by 4.5%.
Beginning this week, Ford called thousands of UAW-represented employees back to work who had either been on strike or had been laid off as a consequence of the walkout. The union agreed with General Motors Co. on Monday, ending the 46-day strike; Ford and the UAW had reached a tentative agreement on a new four-and-a-half-year contract last week. The workers must still ratify the agreements.
Ford has resumed operations at the three assembly plants that the United Auto Workers (UAW) picketed: the Ranger and Bronco-assembling Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne; the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator-assembling Chicago Assembly Plant; and the Super Duty trucks, Lincoln Navigator, and Ford Expedition-assembling Kentucky Truck Plant. Numerous additional Ford plants had production disruptions as a result of the strike, which led to thousands of temporary layoffs.
Ford revealed last week that the strike had a $1.3 billion negative impact on company earnings.
Stellantis NV and GM, two competitors across town, release sales data every three months. However, of the automakers that release monthly sales data for the United States, American Honda Motor Co., Toyota Motor North America, and Hyundai Motor Co. all reported increases in October.
Analysts for the industry had predicted that in October, sales would rise over levels from the previous year. Cox Automotive predicted that sales would increase by 4% and that the seasonally adjusted annual rate for the month would end up being close to 15.8 million units.
Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox, stated in a statement prior to the sales data that “new-vehicle sales continue to show gains over last year’s supply-constrained market, despite the numerous headwinds in the market today.” A possible economic downturn, high loan rates, and the continuing UAW strike are probably deterring some prospective car purchases. Nonetheless, the rebound in car sales has been maintained since there are still enough people and companies who can afford and need cars.