Ford auto sales rise on robust demand, improved supply

WASHINGTON, July 6 (BNA): Ford Motor Company (FN) Thursday followed rivals in reporting increased US auto sales in the second quarter, driven by the easing of supply chain hurdles and pent-up demand for personal transportation.

The company said the US automaker’s quarterly sales rose nearly 10% to 531,662 vehicles.

Automakers are scrambling to make up for production lost during the pandemic, as a strong job market supports demand for new cars even though inflation is hurting consumers’ pockets elsewhere, Reuters reports.

Industry-wide US new vehicle sales in June were 1.37 million units, with an annual sales rate of about 15.7 million, according to data released by Wards Intelligence on Wednesday.

Ford’s quarter was buoyed by a 26% jump in truck sales, a key driver of the company’s bottom line. Sales of the electric version of the company’s popular F-150 truck more than doubled to 4,466 units year-over-year.

However, overall Ford electric sales fell 2.8% to 14,843 vehicles amid persistent supply bottlenecks.

In May, Ford temporarily halted plant operations at three plants where it makes both gasoline and electric versions of the F-150 pickup truck, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The upbeat sales numbers come amid a drive by the automaker to cut costs. The company said last month that it would begin laying off workers, affecting mostly engineering jobs in the United States and Canada.

On Wednesday, Japan-based Toyota’s North American (7203.T) unit reported a 7.13% increase in US sales to 568,962 units, compared with Detroit GM’s (GM.N) jump of 19% to 691,978 units in quarter ending in June.

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