Ford Becomes Best-Selling Vehicle Manufacturer In Fourth Quarter

In looking over Ford's 2021 sales wrapup, the automaker enthusiastically looked toward 2022 and saw its electrified vehicle models taking off.

Ford posted some notable success in the fourth quarter in electric and other sales. Indeed, the automaker was the best-selling vehicle manufacturer in the fourth quarter selling 508,451 vehicles, a 26.8 percent increase over the third quarter, compared to an overall industry decline of three percent.

Ford's Inventory Grows Over November

As Ford begins 2022, the company has 247,000 vehicles in stock, up 22,000 over November, placing it in the best stock position in the industry. The automaker took in 70,000 new vehicle orders for the month, up 58,000 vehicles from a year ago. Thirty-three percent of Ford retail sales fulfilled customer orders for the month.

An enthusiastic Andrew Frick, vice president of Ford Sales U.S. and Canada, said:

"Ford finished the year strong, as the only U.S. automaker hitting the half-million sales mark in the fourth quarter, making Ford America's best-selling automaker. On the strong success of Mustang Mach-E, Ford jumped into second place in U.S. electric vehicle sales behind just Tesla. Last year was a foundational year for Ford in the electrified vehicle segment. This year we continue to expand, adding the F-150 Lightning and E-Transit to our electric vehicle lineup. Looking to the new year, Ford had just over 70,000 new vehicle orders in December, which will provide continued momentum into 2022."

Meantime, Ford posted its best-ever sales for fully electric vehicles, second only to Tesla for 2021. Mustang Mach-E sales totaled 27,140 in 2021. Ford entered 2022 with solid electric vehicle momentum as customer deliveries of the F-150 Lightning, the automaker's electric pickup, and its E-Transit begin. This should further increase Ford's momentum as customer deliveries for both the F-150 Lightning and E-Transit begin, further growing the automaker's electric vehicle share.

Ford Electrified Vehicle Sales Grew

Ford electrified vehicles grew 36 percent faster than the segment overall in 2021 while achieving new sales records for December and all of 2021. Ford sold a total of 12,284 electrified vehicles in December, up 121 percent from last year and growing at more than four times the rate of the overall segment for the month.

Ford's F-Series was the best-selling pickup for the 45th straight year and the best-selling vehicle in America for the 40th year in a row. With 726,004 trucks sold, the F-Series outsold its second-place competitor by 156,616. December F-Series sales totaled 62,496 trucks, up 3.4 percent over November.

As noted last month, Ford was on its way to its 45th year atop the pickup market. That was confirmed with 2021's final sales report.

Ford's share of the retail SUV segment stood at an estimated 12 percent in Q4 – up three percentage points over last year. Ford's strategy of focusing on SUVs and trucks is reaping benefits. Ford brand SUV sales were up 7.3 percent in December over November and 12.3 percent over the previous year.

Customers Like Ford Vehicles

Ford's newest vehicles are hitting the mark with customers. Combined sales of Mustang Mach-E, Bronco, Bronco Sport, and Maverick totaled 23,825 units in December, representing 14.2 percent of the overall Ford brand portfolio. They are all selling quickly off dealer lots in under 20 days.

Photo Courtesy: Ford Motor Co.

Marc Stern has been an automotive writer since 1971 when an otherwise normal news editor said, "You're our new car editor," and dumped about 27 pounds of auto stuff on my desk. I was in heaven as I have been a gearhead from my early days. As a teen, I spent the usual number of misspent hours hanging out at gas stations Shell and Texaco (a big thing in my youth) and working on cars. From there on, it was a straight line to my first column for the paper, "You Auto Know," an enterprise that I handled faithfully for 32 years. Not many people know that I also handled computer documentation for a good part of my living while writing YAN. My best writing, though, was always in cars. My work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, AutoWeek, SuperStock, Trailer Life, Old Cars Weekly, Special Interest Autos, etc. You can follow me on: Twitter or Facebook.