Ford F-150 Positioned To Retain Best-Selling Pickup Truck Title For 44th Straight Year, Despite Disappointing November Sales

For the second straight month, sales of the 2020 Ford F-150 have dipped. Yet the F-150 is well on its way to retaining its title, for the 44th straight year as the best-selling truck in America. Year to date (through November), 713,325 F-150 pickups have been sold.

However, for November sales of the 2020 F-150 slipped by 45.9 percent. That may seem high, but it was to be expected as a combination of inventory shortage due to the pandemic and the switch over to the 2021 platform led to a major drop in November 2020 F-150 sales.

For November, Ford sold 52,698 units which is a drop of 27.2 percent compared to last November when they sold 72,407. As mentioned Ford has sold 713,325 units of the F-150 so far and that is also down by 11.9 percent compared to this time last year when Ford sold 809,530 units. Of course with a pandemic and an uncertain economic time, that is to be expected.

Sales of the Ford Super Duty redeemed things a little for the Blue Oval as those sales for November were up 7.5 percent.

“Super Duty sales produced a strong gain in November with sales up 7.5 percent. F-150 inventory continued to tighten as we moved through our Q4 changeover to the all-new F-150. This was a result of coronavirus-related production stoppages in Q2 and a strong sell -down of the current model F-150, Mark LaNeve, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service. “Dealers are really looking forward to the 2021 F-150, which is now in transit, as well as Bronco Sport and the all-new Mustang Mach-E.”

Recall that just last month, Ford, under new leadership from CEO Jim Farley decided to return to monthly sales reporting. So drops and fluctuations like this are sometimes forecasted and I’m sure Ford was not overly surprised by the November drop.

Overall sales for the month of November were down across the Ford line with double digit percent drops in cars, SUVs and trucks.

November’s total industry declined 15 percent on total sales of 1.24 million vehicles. At retail, Ford estimates the industry was off 12 percent, while fleet was down25 percent. Industry declines are largely attributed to one less weekend in November this year than last year and a renewed focus on stay-at-home policies due to rising coronavirus cases.

Despite all of this, Ford’s stock remains on the upswing as since last month, Ford’s stock has risen from $7.5 a share to a recent peak of $9.45 a share. While this still keeps them from being an investor’s juggernaut the upswing is encouraging as one of the big tasks ahead of Farley is improving Ford’s stock value for all of its shareholders.

And without a doubt, the success of the 2021 F-150 will play a role in that.

When Does The 2021 Ford F-150 Arrive At Car Dealerships?
The answer to this question is now. In their November sales statement, Ford even mentioned that 2021 F-150 is arriving very soon throughout the country.
At my local Ford dealership they received their first 2021 Ford F-150 King Ranch FX4 today. It did have the new fold flat work surface, with drop down gear shifter, but it did not have the Max Recline seats.

I’ve been told there’s some delay in those models equipped with my favorite feature for 2021 (the Max Recline seats). I’ve written a lot about some of the minor glitches in production and the OKTB process for various iterations.

2021 F-150 News
We cover all things related to the Ford F-150 right here at Torque News. But in case you missed a few things, here’s a recap of some of the news highlights.

In a not surprising report, the Ford F-150 was the most searched used vehicle in 31 of 50 states. The Chevy Silverado was second most searched. In this pandemic year, used vehicles have seen a resurgence in sales.

Fuel economy of the hybrid Ford F-150 is expected to exceed 24 mpg. In a first for Ford, they will offer the PowerBoost technology on the 2021 F-150. A hybrid F-150 could be a game changer for Ford, as I reported. It will, however, have to win over some of the naturally skeptic, adverse to change F-150 fans out there. I think it will succeed in doing so.

With early F-150 arrivals we’ve seen some window stickers (and some sticker shock too) but we also now know of some incentives including no payments for three months for those who buy a 2021 F-150 early.

Lastly, and perhaps as controversial, was the announcement of hands-free driving technology for the 2021 F-150. When I wrote about the Active Drive Assist feature in the new Ford F-150, many people felt it was gimmicky and unnecessary. That logic can be true for many things. But I’ve used this technology (in other vehicles) and it’s quite cool. I consider myself an early adapter, so I’m all in on as much automotive technology as we can get.

And, whether you want to admit it or not, this is the future. Self-driving technology and electrification are coming, even in the best-selling vehicle in America. In fact, it only makes sense for Ford to be an early adapter and take the lead and put this technology in their number one-selling vehicle.

That is called leadership!

Jimmy Dinsmore has been an automotive journalist for more than a decade and been a writer since the high school. His Driver’s Side column features new car reviews and runs in several newspapers throughout the country. He is also co-author of the book “Mustang by Design” and “Ford Trucks: A Unique Look at the Technical History of America’s Most Popular Truck”. Also, Jimmy works in the social media marketing world for a Canadian automotive training aid manufacturing company. Follow Jimmy on Facebook, Twitter, at his special Ford F-150 coverage on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can read the most of Jimmy's stories by searching Torque News Ford for daily Ford vehicle report.