New Home Construction and Gas Boom Push Ford Pickup Sales to Record Highs
F-Series surpasses 2012 sales; Ford execs say innovations help expand truck leadership over competitors
Ford F-Series marked an important milestone today, with calendar year-to-date sales already surpassing full-year 2012 truck sales, according to their latest report.
The report says 2013 pickup sales have now exceeded 645,316, and are on pace to set the highest yearly sales total since 2006.
In October, F-Series sales of 63,803 trucks were up 13 percent, the sixth-straight month above the 60,000-vehicle mark.
“If our truck business continues at this rate through the end of the year, we will reach 60,000 F-Series sales for eight straight months, putting us on par with 2006, before the economic downturn,” said Erich Merkle, Ford sales analyst.
According to Doug Scott, Ford truck group marketing manager, Ford F-series sales outpaced 2013 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra combined sales by 67,000.
F-Series trucks also outsold 2013 Ram Trucks by more than 330,000 units in the first 10 months of 2013, almost 50,000 more trucks than the gap a year ago.
“Despite new entries from our competitors, truck consumers continue to vote us No. 1 – day in and day out – with their checkbooks,” said Scott. “In 2013, F-Series had the highest owner loyalty, and we’ve won the R.L. Polk Automotive Loyalty award in the mid- and full-size pickup category 15 times in the last 17 years.”
Economic Recovery Drive F-Series Sales
F-Series is outselling its nearest competitor by more than 65 percent in western markets, where California is experiencing rapid real estate growth and the technology industry is making Oregon and Washington two of the country’s fastest-growing states.
In the past five years, truck sales in the upper Midwest and Plains states represent the most significant percentage growth in F-Series trucks; this growth is tied mainly to expansion of domestic energy exploration and the renewable energy industry.
- From 2008 to 2013, F-Series sales grew 156.8 percent in North Dakota – the company’s fastest-growing state by percentage – quadrupling the growth of No. 2, Texas. Montana is No. 3 at 121 percent and South Dakota is No. 4 at 112.5 percent
- Natural gas-powered Ford vehicle sales expected to rise 25 percent this year
- The energy sector, along with housing, is driving F-Series sales in the traditionally strong Texas market, with growth of 27 percent since 2008, to 500,000 trucks
Ford’s new F-150 STX value model is targeted at customers hit hard by the economic downturn but returning to work in the housing, energy and other markets that are seeing strong growth. STX sales quickly increased to 10 percent of all F-150 sales in 2013 from 3 percent in 2012.
At the other end of the market, a segment Ford pioneered a decade ago, high-end F-Series trucks now lead with more than 50 percent share.
Two new models should also spur sales: The 2014 Ford F-150 Tremor, the world’s first EcoBoost-powered sport truck, and a new CNG F-150 conversion option.
