Within the short selling days month, sales were actually up 3.3 percent on a daily selling rate basis. Wayne Gerdes – CleanMPG – May 1, 2018 2018 Ford F-250 Super Duty Equipped with the award winning 450 hp and 935 lb-ft. of torque 6.7L Power Stroke V8 Turbo Diesel. The cleanest truck driving through a muddy construction site you will ever see! Ford April 2018 U.S. Auto Sales Ford reported it sold 204,651 vehicles in the United States in April, down 4.7 percent below the 214,695 sold in April of 2017. However, sales were up 3.3 percent on a daily selling rate (DSR) basis in which there were 24 selling days in April of 2018 vs. 26 in April of 2017. Except for F-Series and Transit, there is red ink all over this month's Ford sales report. Ford’s YTD sales of 804,232 were down 3.3 percent below the 831,997 sold through the same period of 2017. F-Series sales of 73,104 was up 3.5 percent over the 70,657 sold in April of 2017. On a DSR basis, sales were up a very strong 12.1 percent. YTD sales of 287,295 are up 4.1 percent over the 275,938 sold through the same period of 2017. Further, F-Series has achieved 12 consecutive months of year-over year increases, with top trim level Lariat, King Ranch, Platinum and Limited Super Duty pickups representing 49 percent of sales. Overall F-Series average transaction pricing gained $900 last month. April 2018 U.S Automotive Industry Results Despite GMs lack of monthly sales details, here is the U.S. April Automobile sales breakdown. While April's overall sales volume was down 2.1 percent, on a daily selling rate basis - 24 selling days in April of 2017 vs. 26 selling days in April of 2017, sales were up a healthy approximate 6.1 percent. B and C-segment Items of note: Not much to add. D and Utility Segment items of note: In the D-segment, there are huge losses other than the Camry which is far out in front and the Mazda6 which is making a late in life push. On the utility side, I added the Wrangler to the list and what a month to do so. Almost 30k vehicles sold! Pickup segment items of note: The Titan fell off from its recent 5 to 7k/month run. I have no explanation for the surge or the fall? Ridgeline continues to languish despite accolades. Electrified segment items of note: Prius regains its perch at the top of the hybrid sales results just 40 vehicles ahead of the RAV4 Hybrid. Fusion Hybrid is fading now that Ford is de-emphasizing its role in the future of the company. We will be watching this one closely. The big news within is the Ioniq finally kicked into gear as dealerships are finally offering $2k + discounts. On the electric side of the fence, Prime continues to dominate the segment. Any wonder with the super discounts available on the East Coast. The new LEAF experienced a nice uptick as well. Nissan is spending a lot on adverts here on the West Coast to help. U.S. Automobile April 2018 vs. April 2017 Market Share Comparison April 2018 Market Share items of note: Ford's share was down .5 percent. April 2018 U.S. Auto Sales and Rankings for the Top 18 Manufacturers GM April 2018 U.S. Sales*: 237,800 vehicles sold, down 2.7 percent below the 244,406 sold in April of 2017 Ford April 2018 U.S. Sales: 204,651 vehicles sold, down 4.7 percent below the 214,695 sold in April of 2017 Toyota April 2018 U.S. Sales: 192,348 vehicles sold, down 4.7 percent below the 201,926 sold in April of 2017 FCA April 2018 U.S. Sales: 184,149 vehicles sold, up 4.5 percent above the 176,176 sold in April of 2017 Honda April 2018 U.S. Sales: 125,701 vehicles sold, down 9.2 percent below the 138,386 sold in April of 2017 Nissan April 2018 U.S. Sales: 87,764 vehicles sold, down 28.1 percent below the 121,998 sold in April of 2017 Hyundai April 2018 U.S. Sales: 56,063 vehicles sold, down 11.1 percent below the 63,050 sold in April of 2017 Kia April 2018 U.S. Sales: 50,585 vehicles sold, down 5.2 percent below the 53,358 sold in April of 2017 Subaru April 2018 U.S. Sales: 53,170 vehicles sold, up 1.5 percent above the 52,368 sold in April of 2017 Mercedes-Benz April 2018 U.S. Sales: 30,115 vehicles sold, up 2.1 percent above the 29,490 sold in April of 2017 VW April 2018 U.S. Sales: 28,794 vehicles sold, up 4.5 percent above the 27,557 sold in April of 2017 BMW April 2018 U.S. Sales: 27,213 vehicles sold, up 4.2 percent above the 26,105 sold in April of 2017 Mazda April 2018 U.S. Sales: 23,056 vehicles sold, down 4.6 percent below the 24,164 sold in April of 2017 Audi April 2018 U.S. Sales: 19,104 vehicles sold, up 2.1 percent above the 18,711 sold in April of 2017 Jaguar/Land Rover April 2018 U.S. Sales: 8,467 vehicles sold, up 0.3 percent above the 8,441 sold in April of 2017 Volvo April 2018 U.S. Sales: 8,333 vehicles sold, up 17.0 percent above the 7,121 sold in April of 2017 Mitsubishi April 2018 U.S. Sales: 7,990 vehicles sold, down 4.6 percent below the 8,375 sold in April of 2017 Porsche April 2018 U.S. Sales: 5,570 vehicles sold, up 0.7 percent above the 5,529 sold in April of 2017 * April Estimate April 2018 Manufacturer sales of note: Honda moved ahead of Nissan due to a devastating month by the TN automaker. Subaru fell behind Kia despite positive results. MB moved ahead four spots, VW fell one, while BMW and Mazda both fell 2 spots. Jaguar/Land Rover and Volvo moved ahead of Mitsubishi. 2018 YTD estimated sales of 5.5 million was up .05 million or .9 percent over the 5.45 million sold through the same period of 2017.
Hi All: I received the Ford HEV/PHEV/BEV breakouts this afternoon and added them to the April 2018 Sales Highlights table. The Fusion Hybrid (3,120) fell to third on the Hybrid list behind the Prius liftback (3,830) and RAV4 Hybrid (3,790) in April. I will post the segment breakouts minus the GM models soon. Wayne
Here are some Ford Soundbites from U.S. Sales Analyst, Erich Merkle. Ford's April 2018 U.S. sales totaled 204,651 vehicles, a 4.7 percent decline. However, the F-Series posted its best April results in 18 years while the new Expedition was up 29 percent at retail. “We had a really good industry in March, but in April we estimate that the industry was down about 6-7 percent at retail and our retail sales were down about 3 percent, so we did better than the industry, but overall the whole industry was a bit soft.” F-Series is now reporting 12 consecutive months of year-over-year increases and according to Merkle, it just keeps on rolling. “In April we sold over 73,000 F-Series, and for the month of April that marks our best year going all the way back to 2000, so it was a very strong month for F-Series.” Expedition is spending an average of just 17 days on dealer lots and Merkle says sales were up almost 26 percent in April. “We saw most of our growth, biggest gains coming from the West, so the western region of the country was up almost 60 percent, so we’re really hitting on all cylinders with Expedition and real pleased with the performance of the all-new product.” Merkle says the company continues to see a rotation of consumers going out of cars and into SUV’s, both large and small. If you take a look at the small SUV segment this year, it is larger than both the small car and mid –size car segments combined. “So the small SUV segment, bar none, it is the largest segment in the market, it isn’t going away, but we continue to see growth not just from small, but we’re also seeing growth from mid-size and large SUVs as well." EcoSport volumes continue to grow as well. ”Yeah, EcoSport we had our best sales month to date, we sold 5,277 of them and we’re getting our strongest performance is coming from the eastern region of the country, places like New York, Boston and Philadelphia.” Navigator sales were up 135 percent at retail and 122 percent overall. “So we saw triple digit increases in every region of the country and we really had some strong increases on Navigator in the western region of the country, which would include California, where we saw sales up 188 percent, so it’s really a strong new performer for us and we’re so happy to have it.”
Ford F-150 Parts Supplier Fire Reducing Pickup Supply Ford is working with its supply base to offset impacts of a fire that occurred at one of the company’s suppliers last week and is affecting the production of certain vehicles, due to a shortage of die-cast components. F-150 production is suspended at the automakers Kansas City Assembly Plant and Dearborn Truck Plant. Ford F-Series Super Duty production is down at Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville. Ford expects Super Duty production to continue at Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake. In addition to Ford’s F-Series production halts, FCAs Chrysler Pacifica minivan Windsor Assembly Plant and GMC’s Savana and Chevrolet Express full-size vans being manufactured at the Wentzville, MO, plant are experiencing production downtime for the time being. BMW’s and Mercedes-Benz manufacturing are being impacted as well.
Ford of Canada April 2018 Sales Down 1.2% with 30,045 Vehicles Sold In April, Ford of Canada sold 30,045 vehicles, down 1.2 percent from the 30,401 sold in April of 2017. Ford Truck/SUVs outsold Cars by a 7.63:1 ratio. YTD sales of 91,081 vehicles was down 2.2 percent below the 93,105 sold through the same period of 2017. Ford of Canada April 2018 Sales Highlights Canadians bought more Ford F-Series Super Duty pickups than any prior month on record, helping Ford maintain its spot as the best-selling automotive brand in April. Ford’s F-Series Super Duty saw sales increase 18 percent, its best sales month on record while total F-Series sales achieved their 2nd best April on record. Ford of Canada April 2018 Vehicle Sales April-18___April 2017___% Change 30,045____30,401______-1.2% Cars April-18___April 2017___% Change 3,933_____3,731_______+5.5% Trucks/SUVs April-18___April 2017___% Change 26,112____26,670______-2.1% Wayne
Hi All: From the initial news posted above, Ford F-150 Parts Supplier Fire Reducing Pickup Supply, there has been progress on reinstating F-Series production lines here in the U.S.! With some herculean effort, Ford's F-150 and Super Duty production will soon be back online after the Meridian Magnesium Products parts supplier fire just two weeks ago! Ford is restarting production of its F-150 at Dearborn Truck this Friday after just a week of downtime. The company has successfully repaired the supply chain for Super Duty, with production targeted to restart Monday at Kentucky Truck and Kansas City Assembly that also makes F-150 pickups. 2018 Ford F-350 Super Duty Coming off the line again starting early next week. This follows the massive May 2 fire at the Meridian Magnesium Products facility in Eaton Rapids, MI. Ford teams, together with suppliers including Walbridge and other contractors, worked around the clock to get America’s best-selling vehicle franchise back on line ASAP. The teams removed 19 dies from Meridian’s badly damaged facility, and in one case, moved an 87,000-pound die from Eaton Rapids, Mich., to Nottingham, U.K., via an Antonov cargo plane in just 30 hours door-to-door. Hau Thai-Tang, Ford’s Exec VP of Product Development and Purchasing: Work started immediately in the aftermath of the May 2 fire. Teams removed and remediated safety concerns – including dangling siding – and restored electricity, gaining approval to access the site while debris still smoldered. This allowed Ford and Meridian to safely retrieve and relocate tools to quickly resume part production and work minimizing the financial impact of the stalled plants. Ford recovered, repaired and validated most dies that were at the Eaton Rapids facility, and Meridian is now producing parts for the F-150 at two locations – Eaton Rapids and Nottingham, U.K. Under normal circumstances, moving tooling the size of a bolster die would take approximately 10 days just to get the proper import and export approvals. However, Ford and its suppliers managed to cut the total time for the entire move to 30 hours, including trans-Atlantic flight time. When the team removed the die from the Eaton Rapids factory, it was shipped to Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus, Ohio. Rickenbacker had both the capacity to handle such a large piece of equipment and allowed an Antonov An-124 Russian plane, typically used to transport trains and dump trucks, to take off as soon as the equipment was loaded. Nearly 4,000 miles away, a team in Nottingham was waiting to receive the die and take it to Meridian’s nearby factory. In between, the Ford team received a U.K. import license for the die – a mere two hours before the plane touched down. Parts produced at Nottingham are being shipped via daily flights on a Boeing 747 jet until production in Eaton Rapids returns to pre-fire levels. Inventories of Ford’s best-selling F-Series pickups and other vehicles remain strong and customers won’t have a problem finding the model they want. The question is how will one-off parts being flown in from England to supply three U.S. F-Series plants going to hurt earnings? Certainly, far less than the production halt but damn! Ford states it will cost them between $0.12 and $0.14 per share in Q2 due to lost F-Series production. Wayne
The customers will end up paying for it. And Ford will save a bundle by not developing new cars for the NA market. Until fuel prices spike again.