April retail sales rose 7% on all models while fleet sales were up 1% after posting a drop of 13% in March.
Total sales compare to estimates of 222,000 units from Edmunds and 221,000 from Kelley Blue Book. After a disappointing performance in March, April sales were above expectations.
Sales of the all-new Ford F-Series pickups declined by 0.9% in April to 62,827 units and sales year-to-date are up just 1.4%. The company said that retail sales of the pickups rose 8% in April after gaining 10% in March. In Friday’s press announcement, Ford emphasized that supplies of the new trucks are limited:
Kansas City Assembly, the second assembly plant building the popular new F-150, continues to ramp up production through the second quarter. Once the plant is fully online, Ford will be able to fill many fleet orders – especially the regular cab and long cargo box configurations popular with these customers.
Truck sales comprise about 37% of all Ford company sales, and the F-Series pickups account for 28% of total sales. Ford expects F-150 sales to strengthen in the second half of this year, once the second assembly plant running at capacity. A company spokesman has said that the company has only 16 days of inventory on the new pickups.
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Focus sales fell by 5.3% to 18,100 units, and Fusion sales were off 5.6% at 24,954 units.
Ford’s Escape small sport utility vehicle saw a sales gain of 4.8% year-over-year, compared with a drop of 8.4% in March. Sales of the Transit utility vehicles rose by 8%, and the all-new Transit sold 10,913 units in April and has sold a total of 33,794 for the year to date. Were the Transit van not so popular, Ford’s truck sales would be down about 5% on the year.
The stock traded up about 0.3% in the early going Wednesday, at $15.84 in a 52-week range of $13.26 to $18.12.
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