(New York) Sales of new vehicles from the American manufacturer Ford have almost reached two million in the United States in 2023, a year which was marked by an “acceleration” in electric and hybrid vehicles.
“In a year of many challenges, from a workers’ strike to supply chain issues, our formidable portfolio of combustion, electric and hybrid vehicles and our dealers have delivered solid growth and momentum,” commented Jim Farley, boss of Ford, quoted Thursday in a press release, welcoming that the group maintains its second place in electric vehicles in the country, behind the specialist Tesla.
A performance achieved in this booming sector thanks in particular to its flagship pickup truck, the F-150 – the best-selling in the country for almost five decades –, whose sales in 2023 of the hybrid version jumped by 41% and the electric version by 54.7%.
Over the year, 750,789 F-150 range pickups were sold.
Over the entire year, the group sold a total of 1,995,912 vehicles, an increase of 7.1% year-on-year and the highest since 2020.
Sales of hybrids, all models combined, jumped 25.3% year-on-year to 133,743 vehicles and 55.5% in the fourth quarter. For electric vehicles, they increased by 17.9% over one year to 72,308 and by 27.5% in the last quarter.
Its inventories reached 497,900 vehicles at the end of December.
Part of the fourth quarter suffered from an unprecedented six-week strike led by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union at the three major historic American manufacturers – GM, Ford and Stellantis (Jeep, Chrysler, etc.).
It ended on October 30 and mobilized up to 45,000 of the 146,000 UAW workers working for Detroit’s “Big Three”, blocking major automaker sites including Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, a site that generates sales of $25 billion per year.
