Ford sales improve but remain down 27.4% in third quarter

DETROIT – Ford Motor’s U.S. vehicle sales showed signs of improvement in the third quarter, but still fell 27.4% from last year, a persistent shortage of semi-chips. female drivers having interrupted the production of vehicles.

The drastic drop was narrower than auto forecasters had expected, but wider than the industry as a whole, which was estimated to be down between 13% and 14% from the same time period. last year. Cox Automotive expected Ford’s sales to decline 37.3% in the third quarter, while Edmunds expected a decline of 29.3%.

A silver lining is that Ford’s sales improved in the quarter, from losses of over 30% in July and August to 17.7% in September, signaling a better supply of semiconductor chips. Its vehicle inventory also improved to 236,000 cars and trucks, up 21,000 units from the start of September.

Ford shares rose more than 4% in trading on Monday morning.

Ford sold 400,843 vehicles in the third quarter, including more than 156,600 in September. Its sales at the end of October reached nearly 1.4 million, down 7% from the first three quarters of 2020.

Ford said bookings for its upcoming F-150 Lightning electric pickup topped 150,000. That compares to 100,000 bookings at the end of the second quarter, according to the company.