Ford F-150 Sales Tank in May

Total sales compare to estimates of about 245,000 units from Edmunds and 249,000 from Kelley Blue Book. Both estimates were below May 2014 sales.

Sales of the all-new Ford F-Series pickups declined by 9.7% in May to 61,870 units and sales so far this year are now down 1.1%. Ford noted again that its second F-150 assembly plant in Kansas City is expected to reach its full line speed in the second quarter and that inventory continues to build as the plant comes fully online. Last month Ford noted that the Kansas City plant fills many fleet orders, especially for pickups with regular cabs and long cargo boxes.

Truck sales comprise about 34% of all Ford division sales, and the F-Series pickups account for 26% of total sales. Ford continues to say that F-150 sales will strengthen in the second half of this year, once the second assembly plant is running at capacity.

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In a separate announcement, Ford said that it was reducing its planned summer plant closures from two weeks to one week at some plants:

[T]he company this year will produce close to 40,000 extra units by idling select plants for only one week during what has been the traditional two-week summer shutdown. … Based on strong customer demand for the company’s newest products — F-150, Edge, Escape and Explorer — six Ford assembly plants, along with supporting powertrain and stamping plants, will shut down only the week of June 29. … In April, Ford’s all-new 2015 F-150 was turning in just 20 days on dealer lots, while Edge spent just 10 days on dealer lots. Escape inventories remain tight in a growing small utility vehicle segment. Explorer inventories are also tight, with the new 2016 Explorer just beginning to hit dealer lots as production ramps up.

The company’s financial guidance issued in April included these 40,000 units. Ford’s car plants will be shut down for the full two-week period. Fiat Chrysler said last month that many of its plants would also skip the now-standard summertime shutdown.

Chrysler’s Ram pickups posted a sales gain of 8% year over year in May. GM’s Chevy Silverado boosted sales 10.6% year-over-year and GMC Sierra pickups added 3.6%. GM’s total pickup sales topped Ford’s F-Series sales by about 10,000 units.

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Ford’s Escape small sport utility vehicle saw a sales drop of 8.3% year over year, compared with a rise of 4.8% in April. Sales of the Transit utility vehicles rose by 8.4%, and the all-new Transit sold 11,715 units in May and has sold a total of 45,509 for the year to date.

Sales of Lincoln cars fell 14.4% year over year, while sales of Lincoln utility vehicles rose by 23%. Car sales totaled 3,909 units in May and utility vehicle sales totaled 5,265 units. Year to date, Lincoln car sales are down 20.2% and utility sales are up 32.5%.

The stock traded down in the early going Tuesday but was up fractionally by mid-morning, at $15.43 in a 52-week range of $13.26 to $18.12.