Ford is demonstrating the ability of an electric pickup truck to win over new buyers. In its Q3 earnings report, the automaker revealed that 75 percent of reservations for the upcoming F-150 Lightning came from new-to-the-brand customers.
That means that at least 112,500 of the F-150 Lightning‘s more than 150,000 reservation holders are new customers for Ford. That could explain why the automaker is spending $850 million to double production.
The F-Series trucks continue to do well, in general. Although truck sales are down 22.6 percent in September 2021 as compared to September 2020, the F-series has expanded its lead over the competition. Ford reports that the F-Series trucks are more than 100,000 sales ahead of the competition so far this year. That’s 23,487 more than where it was last year.
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Ford’s overall sales are also down year-to-year in September. A total of 156,614 sales for the month, that meant a decrease of 17.7 percent compared to September 2020. The automaker is showing signs of bouncing back, though, following the hardest days of the semiconductor chip shortage. Its sales increased more than 34 percent in September 2021, as compared to August 2021.
As a result, Ford calls itself the best-selling automaker in America in September. Its strong showing was undoubtedly helped by the fact that it finally had vehicles to sell, as 31 percent of its retail sales came from filling orders that had already been made.
Signs are also improving for its problem child, the Bronco, as Ford reports that it sent out 200 percent more vehicles in September than it did in August when it was still working on a solution for the Bronco’s hardtop roof. Quality issues have apparently been solved for that, so Ford should be ready to send out more and more of them as time goes on.
