Ford Motor Co. sales fell nearly 3% in the fourth quarter when sales of the F-150 star were hit by pandemic-related outages that led to the launch of the newest version of the pickup, the automaker said on Wednesday.
Ford F,
total sales reached about 4.3 million vehicles in the quarter, down 2.8% from the fourth quarter of 2019, the company said.
Total vehicle sales in the U.S. fell nearly 10% to 542,749 units, with truck sales falling more than 12% and SUV sales up 4%.
Sales of Ford’s all-new 2021 F-150, the best-selling vehicle in the United States for decades, began in December.
“Ford’s sales were impacted by lower F-150 inventories due to the persistent effects of the shutdown of coronavirus production in the second quarter, leading to the entirely new transition of the F-150,” said the company.
Sales of the Ford Super Duty pickup maintained “a strong sales pace” and rose 14.1%, while sales of the F-150 fell by almost 33%, the automaker said.
Ford called the quarter a “tipping point” as its sedan sales in the U.S. slowed and sales of newly redesigned pickups and SUVs took off.
Several automakers were expected to experience significant declines in the past year, interrupting a period of five when sales in the United States exceeded 17 million vehicles annually.
General Motors Co. GM,
on Tuesday it reported an increase in total fourth quarter sales, but sales fell 12% in 2020.
See too: GM sales fell for the year, but returned to pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter
Tesla Inc. TSLA,
reported on Saturday that it produced more than half a million vehicles in 2020, delivering 499,550 of them in the year, in line with the automaker’s pre-pandemic guidance.
Ford shares have lost nearly 4% in the last 12 months, contrasting with gains of around 16% for the S&P 500 index. SPX,