Ford truck, hybrid models lead to 13% increase in August sales

DETROIT — Ford Motor’s U.S. vehicle sales jumped 13.4% last month, led by increases in the company’s F-Series trucks and hybrid models.

The Detroit automaker reported sales Thursday of nearly 183,000 vehicles in August, including a 12% increase in trucks and a roughly 50% jump in hybrid vehicles compared to a year earlier.

Ford’s sales last month outpaced overall industry estimates of a roughly 6% year-over-year increase from August 2023, according to Barclays.

Despite steep prices and high interest rates, U.S. auto sales have remained stable in 2024, but they’re not as high as some expected to begin the year. Barclays on Thursday lowered its 2024 sales forecast from 16 million vehicles to 15.8 million, citing a 15.7 million sales pace through August.

“While potential interest rate cuts may help affordability, so long as [manufacturers] aim to keep prices elevated, it will likely be difficult for [seasonally adjusted annual rate] to surpass the ~16.0mn level,” Barclay’s Dan Levy wrote Thursday in an investor note.

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