Ford Q2 sales drop 10.3% due to F-Series supplier issue, falling EV demand

DETROIT — Ford Motor on Thursday reported a 10.3% decline in its second-quarter U.S. new vehicle sales as the company battled a supplier issue for its F-Series pickup trucks and a significant drop in all-electric vehicles.

The Detroit automaker said its pure EV sales fell by 40.7% during the quarter compared with a year earlier. Sales of its F-Series trucks, including the F-150, slipped 11% as Ford began ramping up production after its top aluminum supplier restarted production following two fires late last year.

“Although customer demand remains high, first-half F-Series sales reflect a retiming of commercial production following last year’s aluminum supply shortages. Ford expects supply to recover more fully in the second half of the year,” Ford said in a release.

Ford sold 549,200 vehicles during the second quarter compared with 612,095 units a year earlier. While that’s among the largest expected industry declines, the results slightly beat Cox Automotive’s expectations for Ford sales to fall 11.5%.

The automaker has sold 1 million vehicles year to date through June, down 9.6% from 1.1 million during the first half of last year.

Ford noted that despite the declines, the F-Series remained America’s top-selling truck. The company also estimates its U.S. retail market share to end the quarter was up 0.2 percentage point compared with a year earlier, to 12.3%.

Ford’s sales come a day after most major automakers reported second-quarter numbers that were better than expected, largely driven by increased demand for hybrid vehicles. Crosstown rival General Motors saw its sales fall 4.2%, however, as its EV sales dropped.

Automotive data firm Motor Intelligence on Wednesday estimated U.S. industry sales for June were up 7.5% compared with a year ago, leading to a monthly adjusted selling pace of 16.67 million units, which was higher than many forecasters had expected.

As of last week, Cox Automotive expected U.S. auto sales to be down 2.9% to 15.8 million vehicles, including a 3.4% decline in retail sales. That included a 16.1 adjusted selling rate forecast for June.