Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales rose 22% year-over-year in February, bolstered by a healthier flow of new-vehicle inventory.
The Dearborn automaker sold 157,606 vehicles last month, up from 129,273 in February 2022. Through the first two months of the year, sales are up 11.4%.
“We’re really off to a fast start," said Erich Merkle, head of U.S. sales analysis at Ford, noting growth across trucks, Ford-brand SUVs and electric vehicles.
The majority of Ford's February sales — nearly 145,000 units — came from internal combustion engine vehicles, but the automaker's sales of battery-electric vehicles were up 68% from a year ago to 3,523. Ford is investing $50 billion in electrification through 2026, and has three battery-electric vehicles on the market: the Mustang Mach-E, the F-150 Lightning and the E-Transit cargo van.
Hybrid vehicle sales were up 33% while combustion engine vehicle sales climbed 20.5% from a year ago.
Better inventory flow supported the strong sales month. Ford reported having roughly 345,000 units in gross stock to end the month.
“We had some inventory issues in the second half of last year, in terms of not having enough to fill our orders," said Merkle. "And now as we start this year off, we’re in a better position and we’re able to sell at a much better rate.”
In reporting fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 financial results last month, Ford executives said that nagging supply-chain issues had held back production volumes and contributed to the year's earnings miss and net loss. The February sales results may be a signal that some of those supply-chain problems are easing, and Merkle said the automaker expects to see a return to a more typical spring selling season this year.
Ford's February results outpaced the industry. American Honda's sales were down 1.4% year-over-year, while Toyota Motor North America's slipped 2.4%. Other automakers that report sales on a monthly basis had strong months, including a more than 16% gain by Hyundai Motor Group, which includes the Hyundai and Kia brands.
Overall, light-vehicle sales in the U.S. grew by 9.5% year-over-year in February to 1.14 million units, LMC Automotive estimated based on preliminary data. The firm noted that February 2022 was an especially challenging time for the market, and last month's results were below those in February 2021. Still, analysts said the showing was encouraging.
“February was one of the more upbeat months for the U.S. auto market in recent times, although this should be taken in the context of the lower volumes we have seen since the onset of the chip shortage and other supply-side issues," David Oakley, manager of Americas sales forecasts for LMC, said in a statement.
"One encouraging sign from February’s results was that the recovery appeared to become more broad-based, with brands that had been extremely subdued showing some evidence of returning to more normal levels, as inventory climbs," he added.
Results across Ford's nameplates were mixed. Sales of the Bronco Sport, Escape, Mustang Mach-E, Edge, Ranger and Transit Connect were down in February. The automaker attributed the dip in Mach-E sales to the all-electric vehicle's plant in Mexico being down for seven weeks to prepare it to boost production capacity.
But sales were up for some of Ford's most popular models, including the full-size Bronco SUV, which saw sales rise 112% over last February. Sales of the Explorer and Expedition SUVs also were up more than 100%, and F-Series was up 21.5%.
Ford reported selling 1,336 units of the electric F-150 Lightning last month. Also Thursday, the company said it would restart Lightning production March 13 after several weeks of downtime while it sorted out a battery issue.
The Maverick compact pickup posted an 89% year-over-year sales increase in February.
Sales of Ford's luxury Lincoln brand were up 4%.
Ford said the strong results helped it grow its market share for the month by 1.4 percentage points over last year, bringing its total to 13.3%.
