Business US

Ford reports Q2 sales down 10% as it transforms the business

Ford Motor Co. reported its sales in the second quarter and for the first half of the year said they are down compared to year-ago periods as the automaker phased out two popular small SUVs – Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair –and has seen a steep decline in commercial fleet sales.

On July 2, Ford reported it sold 549,200 new vehicles in the United States during the second quarter, a drop of 10.3% compared with 612,095 sold in the year-ago period.

For the first half of the year, the Dearborn-based automaker reported its U.S. sales were down 9.6% to 1,006,515 vehicles sold compared with 1,113,386 new vehicles sold in the first half of 2025.

Sales at Ford’s luxury brand, Lincoln, dropped 15.8% to 26,389 new vehicles sold in the second quarter and sales of Ford brand vehicles were down 10% to 522,811 new cars sold in the quarter compared with the year-ago quarter.

“Ford is not a clean loser, but it is not participating in June’s strength as broadly as Toyota, Honda or Hyundai,” said Erin Keating, executive analyst at Cox Automotive, in reaction to Ford’s sales results. “The bright spots are very consistent with the ‘year of the mid’ story: Maverick, Ranger, Explorer, Bronco, but the drag from Escape, F-Series and EVs keeps Ford from looking like a broad-based June winner.”

On a bright note, the automaker retains the nation’s crown as the top-selling pickup truck, on pace to hold that title for 50 straight years, delivering 357,801 F-Series pickups through June.

The automaker also noted it grew its estimated June retail market share by 0.2 percentage points to 12.3%, driven by strong demand for high-margin SUVs and F-Series trucks. Ford said its strategy to focus on profitable large SUVs such as the Expedition, Explorer and Bronco helped it sustain retail share during the planned phase-out of the Escape and Corsair.

The Escape and Corsair were built at Louisville Assembly plant in Kentucky but Ford ended their production late last year to retool that facility to make Ford’s all-new small electric pickup built on its Universal Electric Vehicle platform. That midsize pickup will launch in 2027 and start at $30,000 and be followed by a family of “affordable” electric vehicles including a small SUV and possibly a sedan.

Ford said, excluding these model transitions and assuming flat rental volumes, Ford’s second quarter sales would have risen an estimated 0.5%, outperforming flat industry sales.

“Gaining retail market share last month even as we are phasing out some high-volumemodels shows the strength of the Ford lineup,” Andrew Frick, president of FordBlue and Model e, said in a statement. “F-Series widened its lead over competitors, and we continue to lean into our strengths: the Bronco family, large SUVs, off-road performance and Ford Procommercial vehicles. We are exactly where we need to be to deliver on our second-halfgoals.”

Ford’s crosstown rivals General Motors and Stellantis reported sales on July 1. Stellantis, which makes Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Fiat and Alfa Romeo, reported second-quarter sales rose 6% compared with the year ago period. It is the company’s fourth consecutive quarter of sales growth in the United States.

GM reported U.S. sales declined 4.2% in the quarter compared with the same period last year when consumers rushed to dealerships to pull ahead car purchases before new tariffs on automobiles and automotive parts imposed by President Donald Trump took effect.

The year-ago comparison

Also, Ford has a high year-ago comparison because it was running the popular Ford’s “From America, For America” sale, which started April 3 and ran to July 6, 2025, which boosted sales by offering all consumers employee pricing on many of Ford’s vehicles.

In May 2026, Ford tried the same tactic by launching the “American Value. For American Values” sales campaign that offers employee pricing to the general public on many 2025 and 2026 vehicles. It expires on July 6.

But Ford struggled with supply constraints of its most popular vehicle, the F-Series pickup, due to two fires at a key aluminum supplier, Novelis in Oswego, New York, last fall. Ford uses aluminum in the bodies of many of its vehicles because it is lightweight yet durable.

Ford said customer demand remains high in the first-half for F-Series and the 11% decline in the truck’s sales reflects a retiming of commercial production due to last year’s aluminum supply shortages following the two fires. Ford sold 197,900 F-Series pickups in the second quarter.

In a statement on June 10, Novelis spokeswoman Julie Groover said Novelis restarted the hot mill at Novelis factory and it is operational again. Ford continues to push to add 50,000 extra units of trucks to its inventory to partly make up for the lost truck production after the fires last year. Ford expects supply to recover more fully in the second half of the year.

Ford’s U.S. sales highlights

Of the 549,200 vehicles sold in the quarter, sales of cars were up 3.4% to 14,651 sold, which is basically the Mustang because that is the only car Ford currently sells.

Sales of trucks declined by 7% to 318,813 and sales of SUVs dropped by 15.5% to 215,736 sold. Sales of electrified vehicles, which includes hybrids, plummeted 24% to 62,909 sold.

Total sales of the Ford Expedition fell 27% to 22,857 sold in the quarter due to fleet order timing, Ford said, separating out retail sales of the vehicle in the quarter shows a 15.2% gain in sales.

Here are some of the sales highlights of vehicles where Ford saw gains:

  • Ford Bronco: 45,739 units sold, up 15.9%.
  • Ford Explorer: 65,538 units sold, up 13.8%.
  • Ford Maverick: 47,850 units sold, nearly flat with the year ago quarter, down 0.4%.
  • Ford Transit: 44,677 units sold, up 7.7%.
  • Lincoln Nautilus: 10,505 units sold, up 6.4%
  • Lincoln Aviator: 7,156 units sold, nearly flat, down 1.3% and up by nearly 12% for the first half with 13,422 units sold.

Ford’s off-road package wins

Ford noted the Bronco delivered record quarter and first-half results, outselling the Jeep Wrangler for the quarter. Bronco sales for first-half grew 6.8% to a record 76,936 SUV sold.

The big winners were Ford’s off-road performance trims — including all Bronco, Raptor, Tremor and FX4 packages — which accounted for 23.9% of Ford’s first-half sales mix, that is a 3.6% gain compared with the year-ago period.

Ford said sales of these specialized trims rose 6.5% to 240,634 vehicles sold. It said Raptor sales rose 21.4% in quarter and 10.6% in the first half.

Ford’s commercial command

The automaker said it is making strides in its commercial vehicle subscriptions, an area that Ford CEO Jim Farley has said will be lucrative for the company’s future financials.

The automaker said its Ford Pro Intelligence paid software subscriptions grew by nearly 20% in the first half of the year compared to a year earlier and now has more than 900,000 active subscriptions.

The automaker said its analysis of the most recent registration data through April showed that Ford commands a 40.4% share of the Class 1-7 commercial truck and van segment.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer for USA TODAY Co. who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button