Ford Sets EV Sales Record, Again

Last month, we covered Ford’s greatly expanding EV sales. It turns out, it was just getting started. For May (May numbers come out in June), Ford made even bigger sales numbers compared to May of last year.

“While the global semiconductor chip shortage remains an issue for the industry, our inventory continues to turn at record rates with nearly 50 percent of our retail sales coming from previously placed orders,” said Andrew Frick, vice president, Sales, Distribution & Trucks, Ford Blue. “Our newest models, including Bronco, Bronco Sport and Maverick, continue to enhance our sales volume. Our electric vehicle sales, with the addition of F-150 Lightning this month, increased 222 percent — growing at almost four times the rate of the industry.”

While this number might not seem amazing next to Tesla, Ford sold 6,254 EVs last month. This puts its total sales at 222% above last May’s numbers, an amazing increase. Perhaps more importantly, Ford’s EV sales growth is now four times that of the whole EV market, which means the company is grabbing ground and market share from other manufacturers.

Let’s take a look at each of Ford’s EVs. The Mustang Mach-E, which has been around a while, increased its growth 166% over last year’s May sales. Total sales were 5,179 vehicles, making Mach-E the bulk of Ford’s EV sales for the month.

The E-Transit, Ford’s new delivery van that just went on sale, totaled 874 sold. We can’t compare these numbers to last year, because there was no E-Transit last year. Year to date sales (to the end of May) totaled 2,449 electric vans, which puts Ford’s numbers at more than all other electric van suppliers combined. The company is among the first to market, so it is pushing a lot more volume than the competition.

F-150 Lightning sales also got underway last month, with the company delivering its first 201 units. This sounds like not much, but it’s important to keep in mind that Ford is still ramping up production, and has many more units already in transit to customers. Speaking of customers, Ford tells us that 75% of Lightning customers are new to Ford, so it’s pulling in a lot of new people.

All of these sales together put Ford in the number two spot for total monthly EV sales, and they’re only trailing Tesla.

Another noteworthy vehicle is the Ford Maverick, a small hybrid pickup truck. We don’t normally get excited about hybrid vehicles, but as one of the first small fuel-efficient pickup trucks, it’s replacing a lot of work that would otherwise happen with full-sized pickups, which means it has an outsized environmental impact compared to most other hybrids on the market. Going from getting 10-15 MPG in town to getting almost 40 MPG (that’s a real-world number I’ve heard from a number of owners) is important, even if it’s not perfect.

But hey, it could be a great “gateway drug” for truck owners to get into electrification. The Maverick’s sales totaled 6,089 for the month of May. Average time on the lot was only five days for those trucks, and 97% of Maverick sales came from previously placed orders. This means they’re in such demand that they don’t sit on dealer lots at all.

Ford also told us that it has had 38,000 customers pay to activate Blue Cruise on newer Ford vehicles that have it equipped. That’s not truly autonomous driving, but it does show that there’s strong demand for Ford’s answer to Tesla Autopilot. So, autonomous vehicles (or, vehicles that point us in that direction, to be honest and avoid autonowashing) are becoming a strong point for Ford as well.

Featured image by Ford.