By Dave Sebastian and Mike Colias
Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales were off 3.2% in 2019, reflecting a
broader cooling of demand in the U.S. auto market after a record
period of elevated results.
The No. 2 U.S. auto maker by sales said Monday it sold about
2.41 million vehicles last year, down from around 2.49 million in
2018, as falling sport-utility vehicle and sedan sales outweighed
gains in purchases of trucks.
Ford was the final auto maker to post its 2019 sales, following
results reported Friday from most of the industry.
Overall, U.S. vehicle sales fell 1.6% last year, to 17.1 million
vehicles, research site Edmunds.com said Monday. It marked a fifth
straight year the industry topped 17 million vehicles sold.
The car business faces potential headwinds in the U.S. in 2020.
Auto dealers grappled with unusually large stockpiles of unsold
vehicles for much of last year and struggled to unload older
models, forcing steeper discounts.
Auto makers are spending more to lure buyers, potentially
heralding weaker demand and slower sales ahead, analysts say.
The industry's spending on sales incentives in recent months
hovered around 11% of a car's sticker price, the highest level
since 2008, according to J.D. Power.
Ford is shifting its U.S. lineup to almost exclusively SUVs and
trucks, along with its Mustang sports car, part of Chief Executive
Jim Hackett's plan to revitalize the company and spark profit
growth. Ford generates the most of its global profit from F-series
pickup sales, analysts estimate.
Sales of trucks rose 8.8% to about 1.24 million in 2019 and 16%
to 326,941 for the fourth quarter. The company said it sold 153,868
Transit vans last year, up 12% from the prior year.
Car sales fell 28% to 349,091 units for the full year,
reflecting Ford's decision to drop nearly all passenger cars from
its U.S. lineup. SUV sales were off 4.8% to 830,471 units.
Mustang sales fell 4.4% to 72,489 units. In November, Ford
unveiled an all-electric SUV that will be called the Mustang Mach-E
and wear the galloping pony logo, in a move to spark the auto
maker's transition to an electric future.
Ford is relying more on the U.S. market to drive results amid a
steep falloff of sales in China.
The company is also narrowing its focus in Europe and Latin
America, exiting from some car categories to focus on truck and van
sales.
Sales of Ford's top-selling vehicle and biggest moneymaker --
its F-150 Series pickup trucks -- slipped 1.4% in 2019.
Ford and General Motors Co. are fending off Fiat Chrysler
Automobiles NV's surging Ram truck brand.
Sales of the Ram pickup truck -- which was sold under the Dodge
name until a decade ago -- rose 18% last year to 633,694 vehicles,
overtaking GM's Chevy Silverado for the first time. Silverado sales
fell 2.5% to 570,639.
U.S. vehicle sales rose steadily since the financial crisis a
decade ago, when they bottomed out at 10.4 million in 2009.
Sales hit a record 17.6 million in 2016 and have bobbed along
around the 17 million mark in recent years, providing an unusually
steady environment for an industry accustomed to cyclical
swings.
GM on Friday reported a 2019 sales decline of 2.3%, dented
largely by last fall's 40-day United Auto Workers strike that
brought more than 30 U.S. factories to a standstill and depleted
dealerships' new-vehicle inventories, the company said Friday.
The Detroit auto maker said its fourth-quarter sales fell 6%
over the year-earlier period.
Trade tensions have eased since last year's U.S.-China clash
over auto tariffs and an amended North American trade pact remained
unsettled. Ford, GM, Volkswagen AG and other auto makers last year
embarked on restructurings that included tens of thousands of
layoffs and factory closings as earnings came under pressure.
On Friday, Fiat Chrysler said sales in the U.S. fell 1% last
year, while Toyota Motor Corp. reported a nearly 2% decline in U.S.
sales. Honda Motor Co. last week reported flat 2019 U.S. sales,
while Nissan Motor Co. said sales fell nearly 10%.
Electric-vehicle maker Tesla Inc., meanwhile, said deliveries
rose 50% in 2019 to 367,500.
Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com and Mike
Colias at Mike.Colias@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 06, 2020 23:10 ET (04:10 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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