Ford Can’t Move Past Chip Shortages As Sales Dip 26% In June

Amid a quarter plagued with production shutdowns and delays cause by semiconductor chip shortages, Ford (F) saw its vehicle sales increase by 9.6%, with a dip in June sales of nearly 27%.

The Michigan automaker sold 475,327 vehicles during Q2. Analysts had predicted a sales increase for the quarter for Ford that ranged from 10% to 20%, CNBC reported.

Ford saw sales drop for its popular F-Series pickup truck range about 30%, but strong growth in its electrified vehicles, which were up 117% for June, with 56,570 units sold for the first half of the year.

A total of 12,975 Mustang Mach Es were sold, with additional sales coming from the F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid, Escape Hybrid, and Escape Plug-in Hybrid, Ford said.

According to the company, its fully electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck, which was launched in May, has over 100,000 reservations to date. The electrified truck is expected to arrive at dealers in 2022.

The automaker also saw sales increases for its SUVs under both the Ford and Lincoln brands, which were up 37% from a year ago, with 391,190 Ford units and 46,018 Lincoln units sold. Ford said sales were driven by the Bronco Sport and Mustang Mach E SUVs, as well as expanded sales of the Escape, Explorer and Expedition, and the entire Lincoln line.

But despite the highlights, Ford has been dealing with a number of production reductions and plant shutdowns due to semiconductor chip shortages that have also hit the entire auto industry. The company has said that it expects to face a $2.5 billion earnings reduction in 2021 due to the chip disruption.

“With constrained inventories and record turn rates in the second quarter, we have been working closely with our dealers gathering retail orders, which are up 16-fold over last year,” Andrew Frick, vice president, Ford Sales U.S. and Canada, said in a statement.

Ford released its sales report a day after GM, which reported a 40% increase in vehicle sales for the quarter. Toyota also reported a 39.8% jump in vehicle sales for Q2, selling 688,813 units for the quarter compared to GM's 688,236 units sold.

Now that Toyota has edged out Ford for total units sold for the quarter, it takes home the crown for the best-selling automaker in the U.S. for the first time.

Shares of Ford were trading at $14.85 as of 10:17 a.m. EDT on Friday, down 6 cents, or 0.37%.