Ford Auto Sales Slip 8.4% In August, Company Cites Lower Industry Volumes

Ford Motor Company F reported 8.4 percent drop in sales for August, citing weak industry volumes. This is wider than the 3 percent drop recorded in July amid the drop in F-Series vehicles.

Auto Figures Trickle In Thursday

In August, the second biggest American automaker recorded total vehicle sales of 214,482 compared to 234,237 units in the year-ago month. On a month-to-month basis, overall sales slackened from 216,479 units in July.

The sales number generate more interest among investors as others like General Motors Company GM, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV FCAU, Toyota Motor Corp (ADR) TM, Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) HMC and others will be disclosing their sales number for August throughout the day Thursday.

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Focusing On Ford

Commenting on the results, the company's vice president for marketing, sales and service, Mark LaNeve, said, "Strong sales of high-end Lincoln vehicles and Ford SUVs also helped us continue outpacing the industry in average transaction pricing, which increased $1,200 versus a year ago. Vans continue to be a bright spot for Ford – a consistent growth story for us this year."

While the Ford brand witnessed 9.0 percent drop from 225,601 to 205,239 units, the Lincoln brand recorded 7.0 percent increase in vehicle sales from 8,636 to 9,243 last month. The company added that retail sales of Lincoln witnessed 10 percent uptick in August driven by a 55 percent jump in Lincoln MKX sales and an 8 percent increase in MKZ sales.

While Ford van sales of 20,355 vehicles was the best ever for August, Ford Transit sales advanced 17 percent having sold 11,993 units. Despite F-Series sales witnessing a 6 percent drop, the company claimed August marked the best retail month of the year for F-Series with 66,946 trucks sold. Total trucks witnessed a 2 percent fall to 88,372 vehicles.

Following the news, the stock traded down by 1.43 percent at $12.42.

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