The tradeoff was part of a 4.3% increase overall for the automaker in the first month of 2024
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Automakers are working hard to make sure that 2024 is a success, and for Ford,it seems that hybrids are becoming a substantial part of their sales strategy. In January alone, the automaker witnessed a 43% increase in hybrid sales compared to the same month last year. This substantial increase in hybrid sales managed to offset a 10.3% decline in electric vehicle sales for the same period.
In total, Ford sold 152,617 vehicles in January of 2024. That’s up 4.3% over the same month in 2023, but the increase clearly wasn’t consistent across fuel types. The smallest part of Ford’s sales, electric vehicles saw a decrease from 5,247 vehicles in 2023 to just 4,674 this year. Hybrids jumped up from 7,816 units in 2023 to 11,157 this year.
These figures represent big changes that Ford has already been planning for. In December of 2023, it slashed its F-150 Lightning production goal in half for 2024. Consequently, in January, Ford reassigned workers from the F-150 Lightning production line to focus on the gas-powered Ranger and Bronco models. Interestingly, the F-150 Lightning experienced only a marginal 0.3% decline in sales, while sales of the Mustang Mach-E dropped significantly by 50.7%.
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Ford Sales By Powertrain Type
Notably, the big swings were in the smaller parts of the market for Ford. 90 percent of sales were of everyday cars and trucks with no electrification. Overall, they saw a 2.6% increase from 133,293 units in 2023 to 136,617 vehicles last month.
More: Car Dealers Say Biden’s EV Push Goes Too Far, Too Fast
Those figures are in spite of the fact that the F-Series saw an 11.5% decrease, the Bronco was down 27% and the Ranger was down a whopping 89.4%, from 2,871 vehicles in January 2023 to just 303 last month. Clearly, Ford must believe that the demand is there since they’re shifting production to make more of those last two models.
Sales were bolstered by the Maverick which saw a 98.4 percent increase in sales from 6,272 units last year to 12,443 units this year. The Transit was also up with a 40.1 percent increase. Edge and Escape were up 49 and 38.2 percent respectively. Rounding out the January wins for Ford was the Explorer with a 20.6% bump in sales.
