Ford’s push for electric vehicles (EVs) is paying off after the company reports a 10% sales increase helped by its growing EV production.
Key Details
- Ford Motor recently announced a 10% increase in its quarterly U.S. sales, led by its electric F-Series pickups, new Bronco SUVs, and EVs.
- The automaker sold 475,906 vehicles during the first three months of the year, up 10.1% from the previous year.
- The company’s truck sales rose by nearly 20%, car sales were up by 5.1%, and EV sales increased by 41%.
- While EV sales increased 41%, the total number of EV sales amounted to less than 10,900 vehicles or about 2.3% of its quarterly sales.
Why it’s news
The EV tax credits offered in the U.S. have been fueling automakers to push for EVs, including Ford, which has been devoting millions to electric production. The efforts are paying off for the Detroit-based company as it reports a 10% sales increase for the last quarter.
The automaker sold 475,906 vehicles during the first three months of the year, up 10.1% from the previous year after the company faced supply chain issues that caused production to slow significantly.
Of the nearly 500,000 sales, 4,291 were Ford’s electric F-150 Lightning truck. The sales for the truck are high, considering production was paused for multiple weeks after multiple vehicles reported a battery issue.
Ford delivered 13,258 electric F-150s in 2022 with plans to build the all-electric pickup trucks at a rate of 150,000 vehicles a year by 2023, and the company recently reported that it is still on track to meet its production goals.
The company reported sales of 170,377 F-Series pickups in the first quarter this year, up about 21% compared with a year earlier. Other notable increases include its Bronco SUV, up nearly 38%, Explorer SUV, up 36%, and the Expedition, which nearly doubled its sales, according to CNBC.
“Ford is off to a fast start to the year. Ford’s sales growth and investments are a direct result of strong customer demand across our truck, SUV, and electric vehicle segments,” says Ford’s vice president of sales distribution and trucks, Andrew Frick.
Ford’s push for electric
Ford is pushing ahead with EV production with a $5.6 billion manufacturing plant that can produce half a million trucks annually.
The factory, BlueOval City, in Stanton, Tennessee, is expected to open in 2025 and make 500,000 electric trucks yearly—40% more than the company’s original goal.
The plant will make a quarter of the 2 million EVs Ford plans to build each year by the end of 2026.
The recent announcement comes as the company attempts to build its EV presence to compete with forerunner Tesla by investing $50 billion into developing and manufacturing EVs by 2026.
Ford has set a goal of an 8% margin on EV earnings before interest and taxes by 2026, with the new production, the company believes it can close the earnings gap with Tesla, which is operating at nearly 17%.
“We can do better than 8%, especially on a pickup truck,” says Farley. “The reality is that Tesla has not had a lot of competition until Ford and other brands, so their pricing is going to go down. Year over year, Tesla’s prices have come down $7,000.”
