Ford sales in the U.S. fell 15.6% in 2020 due to the availability of the Covid and F-150

Ford Motor car sales in the U.S. fell 15.6% last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, declining commercial fleet sales and tight stocks of its F-150 pickup trucks.

Sales of the popular large pickup truck fell about 33% in the fourth quarter from the same period last year, the automaker said on Tuesday. The lower sales were attributed to the persistent effects of factory closures last spring due to Covid-19, as well as a change in facility production to produce the redesigned F-150.

“We are optimizing production at both plants now and it is a matter of sending more F-150s to our dealership lots,” Erich Merkle, head of Ford’s sales analysis in the United States, told CNBC. He said F-150 stocks were 141,000 units at the end of last year, up from 267,000 the previous year.

Ford’s decline in sales in 2020 is expected to be in line with the U.S. general automotive industry, which is expected to decrease by about 15% to 14.5 million vehicles. These would be the lowest domestic sales since 2012. This also ends an unprecedented five-year sales streak reaching 17 million units.

Ford truck sales fell 11.3% in 2020, while SUVs fell 9.7% year on year. Sales of passenger cars, which Ford is discontinuing, as well as major models like the Mustang, plunged 44.7% compared to 2019.

Andrew Frick, Ford’s vice president of sales in the United States and Canada, believes the company is well positioned this year from a product standpoint, while making the transition from passenger cars.

“The fourth quarter represented a turning point for Ford in our transition from cars to a much greater focus on iconic trucks and SUVs to better serve our customers,” he said in a statement. “We are well positioned to see the benefits of our efforts concentrated over 2021.”