"I think the most encouraging thing about this is that it's consistent performance, it's not just a May thing, we've been seeing higher retail share for our products since last October, seven of the last eight months we've seen retail share gains," Ford Sales Analyst George Pipas said in a release.
Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales totaled 155,954 units, up 20 percent versus April and the highest sales for any month since July 2008.
"So we're bucking the temptation that many have to increase incentives to sell product, and when you couple that with the market share gains I think that Ford will once again be the only major manufacturer to post a retail share gain versus a year ago and at the same time having to reduced incentives."
As a result, Ford is increasing second quarter North American production by 10,000 vehicles, now reaching 445,000 units. The total increase compared with the third quarter of 2008 will amount to 42,000 units.
In May Ford sold 3,900 hybrids, an increase of over 60 percent compared to 2008. It is a company new record for hybrid sales in a single month.
"It's the most hybrids we've ever sold for any month, but with 41 mpg it's hard to ignore that kind of fuel economy rating and here it is a mid-size domestic sedan has the highest fuel economy in that category, these products have turned some heads."
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