Ford April 2012 Sales Down 5.0%

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Focus, Fusion and F-Series were standouts.

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - May 1, 2012

2012 Ford Focus - $16,500 to start and a 28/40 city/highway rating when equipped with the SFE package. Titanium trim wheel and tire shown.

For the 2012 model year, Ford brought over its all-new Focus from Europe with an all-new modern design, improved fuel economy and much improved driving dynamics.

Noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) levels were reduced and driving dynamics improved by the increased stiffness of the body structure, with 30 percent greater rigidity than the previous Focus model.

The direct injected 2.0L I4 provides 160 HP and when mated to the 6-speed dual-cutch AT provides up to 40 mpgUS highway with the SFE aero and friction reducing package.

Ford April 2012 Sales Results

Ford this morning reported April 2012 sales of 180,350 vehicles sold in the United States down 5.0 percent in the on a volume basis but up 6.9% on a daily selling rate basis.

The 2012 Ford Focus again sold well with 19,425 vehicles sold last month.

Other highlights include F-Series sales of 47,453, up 4.4% and 17.5% on a volume and daily selling rate basis respectively compared to April of 2011.

Ford April 2012 Highlights and Overall Sales

Model	Apr-12	Apr-11	Apr-DSR % change	Apr-12 YTD	Apr-11 YTD	YTD-DSR % change
Focus	19,425	17,265	+26.6%	85,468	54,336	+58.9%
F-Series	47,453	45,435	+17.5%	191,280	172,062	+12.3%
FFH/MKZh	1,175	1,788	-26.1%	6,144	6,982	-11.1%
Ford Totals	180,350	189,778	+6.9%	719,597	686,498	+5.9%

The daily selling rate (DSR) is calculated with 24 selling days in April of 2012 and 27 selling days during April of 2011.
Year-to-date, the DSR is calculated with 101 days for 2012 and 102 days for 2011. All percentages reflect DSR.

Top 10 – April 2012 US Automobile Sales Leaders

Sales Rank	Make	Model	Apr-12	Apr-11	Apr-DSR % change	Apr-12 YTD	Apr-11 YTD	YTD-DSR % change
1	Ford	F-Series	47,453	45,435	+17.5%	191,280	172,062	+12.3%
2	Toyota	Camry	36,820	30,443	+36.1%	142,225	107,264	+33.9%
3	Honda	Accord	35,385	28,180	+41.3%	96,517	94,375	+3.3%
4	Chevrolet	Silverado	30,749	29,342	+17.9%	126,387	121,797	+4.8%
5	Toyota	Corolla	24,804	24,215	+15.2%	93,232	100,890	-6.7%
6	Honda	Civic	24,423	26,777	+2.6%	101,592	91,745	+11.8%
7	Honda	CR-V	23,627	21,683	+22.6%	98,214	79,116	+25.4%
8	Chevrolet	Malibu	21,906	24,701	-0.2%	80,456	73,446	+10.6%
9	Ford	Fusion	21,610	21,189	+14.7%	85,559	86,212	+0.2%
10	Hyundai	Sonata	20,521	21,738	+6.2%	75,716	73,616	+3.9%

The daily selling rate (DSR) is calculated with 24 selling days in April of 2012 and 27 selling days during April of 2011.
Year-to-date, the DSR is calculated with 101 days for 2012 and 102 days for 2011. All percentages reflect DSR.
Prius sales combined reached 25,168 but within the sales breakout, none were in the top 10.

Top 10 Sales Leaders - Items of note: Camry and a fast charging Accord are neck and neck. Corolla and Civic both jumped 3 places. CR-V and Fusion fell 3 places. Malibu with tons of cash on the hood climbs back into the top 10 and Sonata edges out RAM to take the final spot.

B-Segment Sales Rank

1. Nissan Versa - 8,335
2. Chevrolet Sonic - 6,387
3. Hyundai Accent - 6,160
4. Ford Fiesta - 5,135
5. Toyota Yaris - 4,274
6. Kia Rio - 4,006
7. Honda Fit - 3,202
8. Mazda 2 - 1,048

C-Segment Sales Rank

1. Toyota Corolla - 24,804
2. Honda Civic - 24,423
3. Ford Focus - 19,425
4. Chevrolet Cruze - 18,205
5. Hyundai Elantra - 16,836
6. VW Jetta - 15,658
7. Mazda3 - 8,508
8. Nissan Sentra - 7,410

D-Segment Sales Rank

1. Toyota Camry - 36,820
2. Honda Accord - 35,385
3. Chevrolet Malibu - 21,906
4. Ford Fusion - 21,610
5. Hyundai Sonata - 20,521
6. Nissan Altima - 16,239
7. Kia Optima - 11,021
8. Chrysler 200 - 13,343
9. VW Passat - 10,096

April segment ranking items of note: Versa still leads the B-Segment with Sonic and Accent closing. Yaris passed the Fit and Rio while Rio outsold the Fit.

In the C-Segment, the ancient Corolla took hold of the lead with the much maligned Civic grabbing second place. Focus fell from first to third yet still outsold the Cruze.

The Camry leads everyone in the car segment and we mean all segments with the Accord jumping way up to second place with Malibu, Fusion and Sonata battling for third, fourth and fifth.

Automobile Manufacturer's US Sales Rank - April 2012 vs. April 2011 Comparison and Total Sales

1. GM April Sales down 8.2% with 213,387 vehicles sold.
2. Ford April Sales down 5.0% with 180,350 vehicles sold.
3. Toyota April Sales up11.6% with 178,044 vehicles sold.
4. Chrysler April Sales up 20.4% with 141,165 vehicles sold.
5. Honda April Sales down 2.2% with 122,012 vehicles sold.
6. Nissan April Sales down 0.3% with 71,329 vehicles sold.
7. Hyundai April Sales up 0.8% with 62,264 vehicles sold.
8. Kia April Sales up 1.0% with 47,550 vehicles sold.
9. VW April Sales up 31.5% with 37,525 vehicles sold.
10. BMW April Sales up 6.1% with 26,793 vehicles sold.
11. Subaru April Sales up 6.3% with 26,310 vehicles sold.
12. Mercedes-Benz April Sales up with 22,336 vehicles sold.
13. Mazda April Sales up 4.2% with 21,506 vehicles sold.
14. Audi April Sales up 15.0% with 11,521 vehicles sold.

March manufacturer sales rank items of note: Toyota just misses topping Ford, Nissan falls well behind Honda and Hyundai/Kia combined, Mercedes-Benz tops Mazda and BMW outsells Subaru.

SAAR is running at approximately 14.5 Million units.

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Hi All:

Mike Levine, Ford Truck PR manager provided the V6 vs. V8 breakouts via twitter a few minutes ago and the much more fuel efficient 3.5L EcoBoost is certainly the engine of choice.

Originally Posted by Mike Levine

V6's continue to outsell V8's accounting for 56% of April F-150 retail sales with EcoBoost at 43% and the 3.7L V6 at 13%.

Wayne

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There were some recent news that Ford is boosting 3.5l Ecoboost production

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Hi All:

More on Ford’s April Sales from their Chief Sales Analyst, Erich Merkle.

U.S. sales of some of Ford Motor Company's most fuel-efficient vehicles grew again in April, with the Ford Fusion and Edge setting all-time April records. Explorer reported its best April sales since 2005 and F-Series sales reached its best April sales since 2007.

While Explorer continues to meet customer demands, showroom shoppers in need of smaller vehicle have been able to meet their needs as well, balancing the sales of car to truck ratio about even, which is where the company wants to be.

"It's been a really good mix, which is what we want, we want to see a nice balance portfolio of cars, trucks and utilities and we've been seeing that. If you look at calendar to date our cars sales have performed very nicely, with the addition of the new Focus, on the truck side with F-series, continues to perform very well, and then if you look at utilities the performance of Escape over the last four months have been very strong too."

J.D. Power research sows fuel economy is the top reason for purchasing new cars this year and Ford is seeing this firsthand with strong sales of their most fuel-efficient vehicles, including 77 percent increase in vehicles with Eco Boost engines in April.

"EcoBoost in this environment has allowed us to provide our customers with a really good alternative, so even though the industry is favoring the smaller cars and mid-size cars which are doing very well at Ford, there is also still a need, it hasn't went away, but there still a need, even during this high fuel price environment, where customers need things like utilities and pick-up trucks, and it certainly gives us an advantage with EcoBoost."

Consumer confidence is coming back.

"Our forecast projection for this year is in the range of 14.5 to 15 million vehicles, that's going to be a very nice, robust year, given where we've been over the last three years."

Wayne

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Hi All:

I added the FFH and MKZh sales breakouts as I just received them. The FEH saw 0 sales in April and with its production demise, I have to discard any future sales results to the dustbin of history. What a ride that vehicle provided for those that were fortunate enough to own it over the last 6 or so years.

Wayne