Ford Motor Co. continues to dominate the lucrative full-size truck market in the U.S. while at the same time slipping in SUV sales, a segment directly affected by a recall involving rear cameras on the popular Explorer that triggered a stop sale.
In the fourth quarter alone, Ford sales grew 0.8% over the same period last year with 487,840 vehicles. For all of 2023, Ford saw its sales in the U.S. climb 7.1% from a year earlier to nearly 2 million vehicles. Overall, Ford's sale of 1,995,912 vehicles was the best since 2020. Data indicates the post-pandemic recovery is here.
A 2023 Ford Super Duty F-250 Tremor Off-Road Package.
General Motors had a 14% increase for the year with 2.6 million vehicles sold, the company reported Wednesday. Stellantis reported the same day that its sales in the U.S. dropped 1% to 1,527,090 vehicles in 2023.
Ford EV performance
The Dearborn automaker touted these sales highlights:
A record year for electric sales, up 18% with 72,608 vehicles from a year ago. In the fourth quarter alone, Ford sold 25,937 EVs.
Mustang Mach-E sales rose 3% in 2023 with 40,771 vehicles sold and the best year since launching in 2021.
Ford’s E-Transit remained America’s bestselling electric van in 2023 with sales of 7,672 vehicles up 18% over 2022.
Ford held the No. 2 EV sales position in the U.S. behind Tesla.
Ford truck performance for the year
Ford held its top spot as top truck seller in gas-powered, hybrid and electric trucks with 1,081,777 trucks and vans in 2023, up 13%.
In 2023, F-Series grew 15% to 750,789 customers, outselling second place Chevrolet Silverado by about 200,000 trucks.
Gas- and diesel-powered F-Series sales of 676,521 trucks climbed 12% while top selling F-150 Lightning grew with 24,165 vehicles or 55% and F-150 hybrid grew with 50,103 vehicles or 41%. No Ford competitor offers all three powertrain categories.
The Ford Transit van saw sales spike 21% to 190,016 vans in 2023 to dominate commercial van sales.
“In a year of challenges, from a labor strike to supply issues, our amazing lineup of gas, electric and hybrid vehicles and our fantastic dealers delivered solid growth and momentum. We have the products that customers want,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a news release. “I am especially proud Ford remained the No. 2 EV brand in America and our next-gen, digitally advanced new EVs are on the way. Now we are spring-loaded for 2024 with new versions coming of our most popular trucks and SUVs, a full year of new Super Duty and Mustang, and a big year for Lincoln.”
Hybrid trucks remain key to strategy, revenue
Growing sales of hybrid trucks is essential to attracting new customers because, Farley has said, many buyers aren't ready to pivot completely to all-electric vehicles. In this area, which Ford dominates with trucks, Ford is seeing growth.
Ford hybrid sales jumped 55% in the fourth quarter to 37,229 vehicles sold, with a 25% growth or 133,743 vehicles for all of 2023.
Maverick hybrid played an important role with sales of 52,361 trucks or a 67% increase for the year. Hybrid comes as a standard option in Maverick, which is also available as a gas-only powered vehicle, with more than half the sales being hybrids. Maverick sales overall were up 26.5% as customers continued to wait for orders to be filled.
F-150 hybrid shot up 41% with 2023 sales of 50,103.
"We saw strong gains coming from gas-powered vehicles and record setting sales for our hybrid and electric vehicles,” Andrew Frick, president, Ford Blue, said in the news release. “None of our competitors offer the powertrain choices that Ford has become known for in trucks. And it will continue with the launch of the new F-150 later this month.”
Erich Merkle, Ford U.S. sales analyst, told the Free Press that the hybrid strategy has put Ford so far ahead of its competitors because the automaker has established a solid, growing customer base.
"The only truck that beat the F-150 hybrid was the Maverick hybrid," he said. "We found this big opportunity with customers by offering a broad range of trucks."
Who is gaining, losing vehicle market share
The industry saw ups and downs with market share in the U.S. in 2023, according to Motor Intelligence data obtained by the Detroit Free Press:
GM 16.5%, up from 16.2%
Toyota 14.4%, down from 15.2%
Ford had 12.7%, down from 13.3%
Stellantis 9.8%, down from 11.2%
Honda 8.4%, up from 7.1%
Nissan 5.8%, up from 5.2%
Tesla 4.2%, up from 3.8%
Hyundai, no change at 5.6%
Kia, no change at 5%
Volkswagen, no change at 3.6%
What analysts are saying
The Explorer recall, coupled with exiting the Ecosport line, took a lot of sales volume off the books for Ford.
If not for the Explorer recall and the strike, which also hit production of the Ford Bronco at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, "Ford would have put in even stronger numbers," said veteran analyst John McElroy, host of the "Autoline After Hours" podcast and webcast.
Explorer sales dropped 10% for the year to 186,799. Bronco sales dropped 9.7% to 105,665. Ford Ranger, which is built at the same plant as the Bronco, had sales plummet 43% to 32,334.
Yet Bronco Sport, which is built in Mexico, jumped 28% to 127,476 vehicles. Escape grew 2.6% with 140,968 vehicles. Edge grew 24% with 106,098 and Expedition grew 18% with 73,396. The classic Ford Mustang grew 2.2% to 48,605.
Meanwhile, the Lincoln Nautilus had a 17.9% gain with 24,334 and Navigator surged with a 32.9% gain on 17,549 vehicles. Corsair and Aviator had double-digit losses. Lincoln sales dipped 2% to 81,818 in 2023 despite an 8.8% gain in the final three months of the year with 22,377 vehicles sold.
Michelle Krebs, executive analyst at Cox Automotive, told the Free Press that Ford closed December stronger than expected. "Lincoln finally showed some signs of life with sales up."
Ford earned praise for its truck strategy from Joe McCabe, CEO of AutoForecast Solutions. He specifically cited dialing back on Lightning production until the pace of sales picks up. He looked with caution at automakers focused on an all battery electric vehicle lineup.
"We like the fact that they're staying ahead," McCabe said. "Maybe an all BEV strategy is not the proper strategy at this time. You can't cannibalize your biggest moneymakers pushing a new tech on people. The fact that Ford is balancing its portfolio with ICE, hybrids and EVs is the right play."
