Ford October Sales Best Since 2004, Launches Big Promotion

By Paul Ausick Updated Jan 13, 5:36PM EST · Published Nov 3, 10:50AM EST

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Ford October Sales Best Since 2004, Launches Big Promotion — © courtesy of Ford Motor Co.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) on Tuesday reported a U.S. sales increase of 13% year over year in October, to 213,938 Ford and Lincoln vehicles, compared with October 2014 sales of 188,654. Truck sales rose 13.8% for the month, on top of a 23.2% increase in September. The company’s Ford sport utility vehicles (SUVs) posted their best October sales since 2004, and the company said it posted its best October sales performance in 11 years.

Total sales compare to an estimate of 219,000 by analysts at Kelley Blue Book. The industry research firm also reported that Ford’s average transaction price in October was $36,940, up 0.3% month over month and up 3.1% compared with October of last year.

Sales of the Ford F-Series pickups rose by 3.3% in October to 65,500. In September, Ford sold 69,651 F-Series trucks, following August’s total of 71,332. Sales year to date are now up 1.5%. F-Series October sales were the best in nine years.

Truck sales comprise more than 41% of all Ford brand sales, and the F-Series pickups accounted for about 31% of total sales in October.

Ford’s F-150 sales have posted year-over-year gains in each of the past four months, and retail sales of the trucks reached its highest October level since 2004. Some of the monthly declines since August are due to seasonal factors, but the all-new truck should probably be doing better than this. The company is kicking off a two-month promotion aimed at recovering some lost market share.

Ford’s Escape small SUV saw a sales decline of 0.8% year over year, following a 31% increase in September. Sales of the all-new Transit and Transit Connect totaled 15,238 units in October and the new Transit has sold a total of 95,446 units for the year to date.

Sales of the Lincoln brand slipped 4.5% year over year in October as sales of Lincoln utility vehicles fell by 3.9%. Car sales totaled 2,864 units in the month, and utility vehicle sales totaled 5,621 units. Year to date, Lincoln car sales are down 13.3% and utility sales are up 26.1%.

The stock traded up about 0.3% Tuesday morning, at $14.79 in a 52-week range of $10.44 to $16.74.

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About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.