Ford Motor Company (F +4.24%) said that its U.S. sales fell 21% in November from a year ago, as F-150 pickup sales fell by nearly half amid tight supplies of the popular truck.
Ford said that its dealers' inventories of the F-150 were low in November because of the lingering effects of coronavirus-related factory closures earlier in 2020 and because F-150 production was disrupted more recently as it retooled its factories to build the all-new 2021 F-150.
Ford's all-new 2021 F-150 looks similar to the outgoing model, but there are many changes under the skin. Image source: Ford Motor Company.
The first of those all-new F-150s began shipping to U.S. dealers in late November, Ford said. Sales of Ford's larger Super Duty pickups, which are built in a separate factory, were up 7.5% in November from a year ago.
Ford's sales were also dented by the discontinuation of most of its car models. U.S. Ford dealers have sold down most of their remaining sedan inventories, while supplies of the popular crossovers intended to replace them — the EcoSport, Escape, and Edge — remain tight due to high demand and the aforementioned factory shutdowns earlier in the year.
As of the end of November, Ford had about 19,000 Fusion sedans remaining on U.S. dealer lots. Dealer supplies of the Fiesta, Focus, C-Max, and Taurus, all once stalwarts of the U.S. market, are now close to zero.
