The locally made Ford Explorer SUV saw a 53.9% decrease in sales in February as compared to a year ago, largely as a result of the semiconductor shortages that have shut down the Chicago Assembly Plant for weeks at a time and reduced it to just two shifts.
Overall, Ford and Lincoln sales fell 20.9% to 129,273 last month, down from 163,520 in February 2021.
In February, the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker saw a 15.1% decrease in retail sales, a 23.3% fall in retail truck sales, a 3.6% dropoff in retail SUV sales and a 10.9% decline in electrified retail sales. Ford's overall truck sales fell by 25.5% and overall SUV sales by 11.8% last month.
Ford has been phasing out lower-margin cars, selling just 4,719 last month, down 44.6% from 8,516 in February 2021. It has shifted its strategy to focus on pricier and higher-margin pickup trucks and SUVs that fatten its profit margin and is now projecting it will become the second-largest electric vehicle manufacturer in the United States.
“In addition to our February sales, our retail order bank continues to expand totaling 72,000 vehicles in February — four times higher than last year. Our newest products are turning on dealer lots at record rates," said Andrew Frick, vice president, Ford Sales U.S. and Canada. "More than 33% of our retail sales are coming from previously placed orders and leaving dealerships directly upon arrival. Our new products are conquesting from competitors at a rate that is 26 percentage points higher than Ford overall, including Maverick, Mustang Mach-E, Bronco and Bronco Sport.”
In February, Ford sold 9,566 units of the Explorer, which is made at the Chicago Assembly Plant on the far South Side near the state line, down from 20,745 units during the same month in 2021. After the semiconductor shortages, related plant shutdowns and only two shifts running, Explorer sales are down 33.5% as compared to the first two months of 2021 with 25,821 units sold, as compared to 38,840 the previous year.
In 2019, Ford also started making the Lincoln Aviator at the Chicago Assembly Plant after phasing out the Lincoln MKS and Ford Taurus. Sales of the SUV rose 13.6% to 1,835 units last month, up from 1,615 during the same time the previous year. Aviator sales have declined 11.3% to 3,151 units sold through the end of February, down from 3,554 units through the first two months of 2021.
Ford employs more than 5,810 workers at the Chicago Assembly Plant and another 1,290 at the Chicago Stamping Plant on U.S. 30 in Chicago Heights. They have often been out of work frequently this year as the plant has been repeatedly idled due to the lack of semiconductors that are used in rearview cameras, lane-assist and other modern features.
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March 06, 2022 at 03:15AM
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Calumet Region-made Explorer sales fall 53.9% in February - KPCnews.com
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