Ford Motor announced Monday that the company's U.S. sales jumped 10.5% in February with strong sales growth among electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid vehicles.
Sales of Ford's hybrid vehicles increased 36.7% year-to-date through February, with sales in February up 31.5% compared to a year ago with 12,045 vehicles sold.
"Hybrid vehicles continue to be a growth segment for Ford and sales have grown at a faster rate than the overall U.S. industry for much of the last year," Ford said of the news.
EV sales at Ford are up 25.9% year-to-date compared to a year ago, while sales were up 80.8% from last February with 6,368 EVs sold in the month versus 3,523 last year. Much of the growth in EVs came from the F-150 Lightning pickup, which ticked up 93% in February from last year with 2,578 trucks sold in the month.
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The Ford Mustang Mach-E electric SUV saw sales surge by 64.3% in February compared to a year ago even as year-to-date sales lagged last year's figures by about 4.2%. A total of 2,930 Mustang Mach-E vehicles were sold in February, bringing the 2024 tally to 4,409.
The company cut prices for the Mach-E by up to $8,100 in February after sales fell sharply in January, and also moved to scale back production at the Michigan Rouge Electric Vehicle Center to one shift starting on April 1.
Ford also saw steady growth in sales of gas-powered vehicles, which were up 7.5% for the month of February and 5.2% year-to-date compared to a year ago. This comes as Ford, like other legacy automakers, has sought to focus more on high-margin hybrid and gas-powered vehicles with signs of cooling demand for EVs.
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The Detroit automaker also saw strong growth in sales of SUVs, which increased by 22.3% in February from a year ago and are up 15.2% in 2024 so far.
Within the SUV segment, much of the growth came from sales of the Ford Edge, which were up 80.8% year-to-date and 105.2% from last February – as well as the Ford Escape, which had a sales increase of 68.3% year-to-date and 105.2% for the month.
Ford Truck sales were up slightly, increasing by 1.4% for both the month of February and year-to-date. Sales of F-series pickups overall were down 5.8% in February and 8.6% year-to-date, although the sales volume of 100,531 in 2024 outpaced all other categories.
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The Maverick, a compact pickup sold in gas and hybrid variants, had the fastest growth with the Ford Trucks lineup with sales gains of 73.4% for February and 84.7% year-to-date, with 25,705 sold in 2024 so far. Ford Transit, which can serve as passenger or cargo vans, saw 19.6% sales growth in the month with 13,410 vehicles sold and 29.4% for the year so far.
Overall, sales of Ford brand vehicles rose 9% in February from a year ago to 165,693 units and are up 6.6% year-to-date with 311,325 vehicles sold. Sales of Lincoln brand vehicles rose 38% for the month to 8,499 units and are up 29.4% year-to-date with 15,484 vehicles sold.
Reuters contributed to this report.
