Ford moves into second place in U.S. EV sales

Ford Motor Co. moved up to second in U.S. electric vehicle sales behind Tesla last year on the strength of its Mustang Mach-E, overtaking rival General Motors, whose Chevrolet Bolt EV has been hobbled by a recall.

Ford’s U.S. sales dropped 6.8 percent year-over-year in 2021 to roughly 1.9 million vehicles, according to numbers released Wednesday.

Ford sold 27,140 Mach-Es in 2021, its first full year on the market, according to a statement Wednesday that detailed its December and full-year 2021 sales results. The automaker recently said it is tripling production at the Mexican plant that builds the plug-in pony car. On Tuesday, Ford said it is doubling production of the battery-powered F-150 Lightning pickup going on sale this spring, which sent its stock to a 20-year high.

In December, Ford’s light-vehicle sales fell 17.2 percent as sales of F-Series trucks, its biggest moneymaker, tumbled 15.7 percent.

The dip in sales was consistent with the story of the automotive industry as a whole, which saw sales slide due in large part to a semiconductor chip shortage that dampened auto production across the world for much of the year.

For the year, Ford sold 1.9 million vehicles, falling to third place in the U.S. race behind GM and the new leader Toyota. But Ford noted it had the highest sales among U.S. automakers in the fourth quarter, as it debuted the Maverick small pickup, which sold 13,258 in its first months on the market.

“Ford finished the year strong as the only U.S. automaker hitting the half-million sales mark in the fourth quarter,” Andrew Frick, Ford’s U.S. sales chief, said in a statement. “Last year was a foundational year for Ford in the electrified vehicle segment, and this year we continue to expand.”

The company also expressed optimism about its position at the beginning of 2022, claiming that its 247,000 inventory of vehicles in stock is the best in the industry.

“Looking to the new year, Ford had just over 70,000 new vehicle orders in December, which will provide continued momentum into 2022,” Frick said.

GM halted production of the Bolt for the final two months of the year as it worked on a fix for a defect that could cause battery fires. Forecaster LMC Automotive sees GM recapturing its second-place spot, though Ford CEO Jim Farley contends his company will pull away with the F-150 Lightning that received nearly 200,000 nonbinding reservations.