Ford Sets Sales Pace As Best-Selling Brand In The First Quarter

Ford is off to a great start this year, leading the rest of the industry in sales. According to figures released, the automaker was the best-selling brand.

Led by its iconic vehicles, commercial vehicles and EVs drove a first-quarter sales increase of 10.7 percent, making Ford the country’s best-selling brand.

Ford Sales Surged

Sales surged across Ford’s areas of strength, including trucks (up 19.6 percent); three-row SUVs (up 47.6 percent); Bronco brand (up 18.3 percent); Ford Pro Transit van (up 86.0 percent); Mustang (up 5.2 percent), and electric vehicles (up 41.0 percent).

Overall sales in Ford’s recently identified brands – Ford Blue, Ford Pro, Model E, and Lincoln – totaled 475,906, up 10.1 percent with an estimated share up over a year ago.

Ford’s EV sales grew 41.0 percent in the first quarter on sales of 10,866 electric vehicles. F-150 Lightning sales totaled 4,291 pickups, with production capacity actions on track to hit an annual production run rate of 150,000 this year. Last year, the E-Transit, America’s best-selling electric van sales, climbed 62.7 percent. Reflecting downtime at the plant for changes to increase production, Mustang Mach-E sales were down. Meanwhile, the automaker has reopened its sales reservation and order system. Ford reopens sales reservation system amid reports of price hike for F-150 Lightning.

Ford F-150 Lightning can be charged by the Lectron 48-amp system.

Ford is America’s No. 1 selling truck manufacturer, with 254,023 trucks and vans sold in the first quarter, outselling GM’s trucks and vans by approximately 27,000 vehicles. Sales of Ford’s overall trucks, including pickups and vans, were up 19.6 percent on the strength of F-Series pickups (up 21.1 percent) and Ford Pro’s Transit van (up 86.0 percent).

And, in good news to potential customers, there's no reason for charging anxiety, says John Goreham, senior reporter. Indeed, his story sets things straight for potential buyers.

Ford Adds Third Shift At Kansas City Plant

Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant will add a third crew in April to increase production for Ford Pro of the best-selling Transit and E-Transit vans to support this momentum. Ford also is increasing production at manufacturing plants across North America to meet strong customer demand for vehicles, including Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning, Bronco Sport, and Maverick.

Meanwhile, Ford boss Jim Farley recently told shareholders that the new BlueOval City electric plant in Tennessee will host a second electric truck called Project T3, a truck that is planned for the next couple of years at the new plant.

"Ford is off to a fast start to the year. Ford’s sales growth and investments are a direct result of strong customer demand across our truck, SUV, and electric vehicle segments. And this year’s highly anticipated new product launches with Super Duty, Escape, Mustang, and Ranger, will only add to this momentum,” said Andrew Frick, vice president of sales distribution and trucks.

Explorer Best-Selling Brand

Ford Explorer was the best-selling, three-row midsize SUV in America, and the red-hot Bronco brand saw sales growth of 18.3 percent, including a 37.6 percent rise for Bronco. Additionally, Expedition sales surged.

BlueCruise, Ford’s driver-assist technology, is now available on 186,000 vehicles; customers have accumulated more than 55 million hands-free miles driven with the technology. Consumer Reports rated Ford BlueCruise as the top-rated active driving assistance system.

Ford Library Photo Image

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 many misspent hours hanging out at gas stations (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 I handled faithfully for 32 years. Not many people know that I also handled computer documentation for most of my earnings 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.