Ford Disappoints In Its October Sales; Up Only 0.4 Percent

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) reported Thursday October car sales were up slightly, by 0.4 percent, to 168,456, led by sales of its utility vehicles and despite a decline in truck sales, but last month’s sales figures – which were released only two days after the Detroit auto giant released a better-than-expected third quarter performance – were considerably lower than the 3.2 percent forecast by Edmunds, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

The Ford brand managed a small year-over-year gain of 1 percent, but sales of its luxury Lincoln brand saw a 15.4 percent drop. The F-Series pickup continued to be the company’s most popular model, with a 7.6 percent gain in sales to 56,497 vehicles sold last month.

Sales of F-Series, Ford’s most popular brand, increased 8 percent to 56,497 vehicles, while the Escape saw a 4 percent rise to 19,832.

The Focus saw a 48 percent gain to 18,320 units while sales of the Ford Explorer grew 13 percent to 13,528. Losers included the Edge, the Expedition and the Flex, but most of all sales of the Lincoln continued to struggle; only the brand’s MKT crossover and Navigator saw an increase in sales.

The lackluster performance comes two days after Ford said its record-setting North American sales offset losses in the European market in the company’s third quarter.

After gaining 8 percent following the quarterly earnings report, Ford share fell 24 cents to $10.91, a 2.2 percent decline in trading on Thursday.