Key Takeaways
- Ford Motor Co.’s February sales increased 10.5% from the year-earlier period as demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid vehicles jumped.
- EV sales skyrocketed 81% in the latest month, while hybrid sales were up 32%. However, the vast majority of Ford’s sales—nearly 90%—continued to be from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles.
- Ford posted an unexpected drop in sales of its F-series truck lineup during February.
Ford Motor Co. (F) shares gained Monday after the carmaker reported a 10.5% increase in U.S. sales in February compared with the year-earlier month, boosted by a surge in demand for its hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs).
While internal combustion engine vehicles still accounted for nearly 90% of the overall 174,192 vehicles sold during the month, sales of hybrid vehicles increased 32% to 12,045 and EV sales rose 81% to 6,368.
“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,” the company said in a statement following the latest sales figures. The automaker noted that one-fifth of retail orders for its top selling F-150 pickup in the 2024 model year are for the soon-to-be released F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid.
Last July, Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley told analysts that Ford would be doubling down on its investment in hybrids, noting that those vehicles will play an increasingly important role in the industry’s transition to more “green” cars and trucks.
With respect to EVs, Ford acknowledged in its quarterly earnings report last month that consumer adoption has been slow, which has led the company to defer “certain capital investments in EVs until they’re justified by demand and prospects for acceptable returns.” The company projects that losses for its EV unit this year could be as high as $5.5 billion as pricing pressures continue to weigh on profitability.
Nonetheless, according to Chief Financial Officer John Lawler, Ford is developing next generation EVs that the company expects will be profitable within a year of launch. “EVs are here to stay, customer adoption is growing, and their long-term upside is central to Ford,” he said last month.
Ford’s sales of traditional internal combustion engine vehicles climbed 7.5% in February from a year earlier to 155,779—even with a drop in sales of the best-selling F-series pickup, which fell 5.8% from a year ago to 51,829—as the company showed sales strength across most of its product lineup.
For the first two months of 2024, Ford said it sold 326,809 vehicles, a 7.5% increase compared with the comparable period a year ago. Ford noted that it was the best-selling brand in the U.S. for the second straight month in February, and that it outsold Toyota by nearly 9,000 vehicles in the first two months of the year.
The news Monday helped lift Ford shares, which gained 2.3% to $12.74.