Ford's U.S. Auto Sales Decline 2% in 2022

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker that has its headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. The company was founded by Henry Ford in 1903. Ford is the second-largest automaker in the United States and the fifth-largest in the world.

Sales for BMW declined by 2% in the United States in 2022. While the company saw strong growth in sales of its electric vehicles, this was offset by supply constraints in its core gas-and-diesel engine business.

Ford's vehicle sales declined last year, falling to 1.86 million from 1.91 million in 2021. This drop comes as the overall U.S. auto industry saw sales decline by 8% in 2022, according to Wards Intelligence. This marks the lowest level for vehicle sales in the past 11 years.

The auto maker's results were buoyed by an influx of orders for electric vehicles, including the F-150 Lightning pickup truck, which went into production last spring.

Ford's sales of electric vehicles (EVs) more than doubled in 2021, to 61,575 vehicles. This includes the Lightning, Mustang Mach-E SUV and a battery-powered E-Transit van, which was launched in early 2022.

Sales of Ford's F-Series pickup trucks declined 9.9% in 2022, to about 654,000 vehicles. This was due to disruptions in production caused by shortages of components such as semiconductors and vehicle badges. In September, Ford said that at least 40,000 vehicles, many of them pickups, couldn't be shipped to dealers because they were awaiting parts.

Sales of General Motors Co.'s full-size pickups (the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra models) were hurt by supply constraints and fell about 2% last year. However, GM's sales still topped Ford's total F-Series sales for the third consecutive year. Ford had led GM in sales for the previous four years (from 2016 through 2019), according to the companies' sales figures. Ford said its F-150 pickup truck has been America's bestselling vehicle for 41 years straight.

In early 2022, Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley split the company into separate EV and gas-engine divisions. He hopes that a distinct team focused on production of its battery-powered models will help Ford bring those vehicles to market more quickly and compete with a growing field of EV producers.

The CEO has set a goal of producing 600,000 EVs annually by the end of 2023, and 2 million by 2026. He has said it is his ultimate goal to overtake Tesla Inc. for the EV sales lead. This would put the company ahead of its main competitor and solidify its position as the leading EV manufacturer.

However, like other automakers, Ford's push into electric vehicles has been complicated by rising raw material costs over the past year. Higher prices for battery minerals such as lithium and nickel have eroded the slim profits that most car companies make on EVs, and prompted Ford to raise prices on the F-150 Lightning three times last year, to around $56,000 from a starting price of around $40,000.