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Ford's U.S. Sales in June Reveal Two Hard to Explain Anomalies

Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance editions 26 photos
Photo: Ford
We're past the mid-point of the year, so every car company is busy showing off—or making the most of—its sales figures over the first six months. Some are more vocal than others about it, and that's usually a good indicator of how well that certain manufacturer is currently doing.
For instance, Tesla (there's always something about Tesla, isn't it?) made the news for its questionable tactics to boost sales for the second quarter of 2021, but considering it managed a new personal record, it was probably all worth it as far as the company is concerned.

Ford's reporting doesn't focus on the quarter but the month that has just ended. Glancing over the figures, two aspects immediately stand out: one, sales are considerably down compared to 2020, which was the worst year for most companies in the automotive industry, and second, the Mustang Mach-E electric crossover sold more units than the Mustang proper. Let's take them one by one.

In June 2021, Ford sold a total of 115,789 vehicles, which includes cars, SUVs, and trucks. Compared to the 158,498 units sold during the same month last year, that represents an astronomical drop of 26.9 percent that's hard to fathom considering everything that went on in 2020. On a year-to-date basis, however, the numbers for 2021 are still slightly ahead, even if only by a lowly 4.9 percent (996,661 units compared to 950,199 units).

As for the Mach-E situation, that comes on the back of a very poor month for the regular Mustang. Ford's sports car sold almost precisely half as many units as during the same month last year (2,240 compared to 4,522, a drop of 50.5 percent). Still, unlike the overall vehicle sales, the Mustang still lags behind when it comes to the year-to-date comparison between this year and 2020—31,950 units versus 33,786 units, respectively (-5.4 percent).

The Mustang Mach-E, on the other hand, continues its steady rhythm of just over 2,000 units delivered per month (12,975 units over the first six months), except in June, it managed to pip ahead of the Mustang by 225 units (2,465 for the electric crossover and 2,240 for the gasoline-powered coupe). While we doubt this is a reflection of the public's current preferences (after all, we just found out the Mustang is the world's favorite sports car) and rather a glitch in the production output due to the infamous chip shortage, it still is disturbing to see how the pandemic can affect the industry even after the worst of its seems to be behind.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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