The Blue Oval is being hit hard by the shortage of microchips.
It is hard to believe 2021 is already half-way over. This is an important checkpoint for automakers to gauge yearly sales performance. There’s no doubt that some brands are more affected by the global shortage of microchips than others. Ford seems to be the hardest hit. The Blue Oval figures aren’t looking great for electric vehicles, but that’s just one area. The news may not be as bad as it seems. We’ll get to that in a moment.
Let’s start with the bad news. Ford’s June 2021 total retail sales are down 32.5 percent. And, let’s not forget that June 2020 was a difficult month for the auto industry. The Ford Explorer is down 38.4%, the Escape has a drop of 39.9%, and the Edge has a drop of 53.1 percent. Although the news in the truck segment is not as bad, it’s still very worrying with F-Series sales down by 29.9%. Ranger sales dropped by just 3.7%, and Fusion is now dead, Mustang Ford’s last car for the masses. Its sales dropped by 50.5 percent.
Here’s the good news. The year-to date sales are up by 4.9 percent, however. The Expedition saw sales rise 42.8 percent in June. However, its Lincoln Navigator sibling, the Expedition , saw sales increase 15.5 percent. Transit Connect sales grew slightly at 6.3 percent.
These are minor victories, but it is important to remember that Ford has additional offerings that will increase the bottom line. Last month saw the sale of 8,355 Broncos and 801 full-size Broncos. The Mustang Mach–E sold 2,465 units in June 2021. That’s more than the traditional Mustang, which had only 2,240 buyers. The EcoSport sold 3,520 more than the Mustang.
Here are some signs that things may not be so dire as they seem. Ford spins this sales report as electrified vehicle sales increasing 117 percent in June. Ford refers to electrified as the Mach-E and various hybrid offerings. This is a positive trend when viewed from a year-to-date view. The Mach-E has sold 12,975 vehicles so far, while Ford has sold 17,039 F150 PowerBoost hybrid trucks. Both the standard and plug-in hybrid Escapes are up 45.9% year-to-date. Ford customers seem to be following Ford’s lead in electric motoring.
Ford executives must be worried about the shortage and the resulting production issues. The year-to-date numbers aren’t as grim, which suggests that the chip shortage was particularly severe for June. Ford is still suffering more than others when you look at the sales data of its crosstown competitors, Ram and Chevrolet.