Industry surge, truck demand helps Ford beat estimates

Ford Motor Co.’s third- quarter deliveries topped expectations on the strength of truck demand as the overall industry surged close to a booming 17 million annual sales pace in September. The automaker’s sales fell 4.7 per cent in the quarter, beating analysts’ estimates for a 6.7 per cent decline on the strength of Ford’s best third quarter for pickup sales since 2005. Deliveries of F- Series trucks rose 3.5 per cent and Ranger sales were up 8.2 per cent. Industry- wide auto sales hit a pace of 16.8 million in September when medium and heavy trucks are included, the company said. “It was really gratifying to see the recovery from the second quarter for ourselves and the industry,” said Mark Laneve, Ford’s U. S. sales chief. The Dearborn, Mich.-based carmaker is predicting its first annual loss in a decade, partly because it is temporarily shutting two U. S. factories to retool for a redesigned version of the F-150 pickup. “In Q3, we were tighter than we normally are” on truck inventory “and we had such a great quarter,” Laneve said.