Ford (F) delivered record February EV sales in the first full month of sales for the Mustang Mach-E electric crossover, which took market share from Tesla (TSLA). Ford’s shares retreated, trading around several points of purchase.
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Year after year, new vehicle sales fell 14.1% to 163,520 last month, Ford said in a press release. This included drops of 3.6% for Ford trucks, 10.2% for SUVs and 65.2% for passenger cars, the latter a market from which the auto giant practically left.
General retail sales fell 1.8%. Retail truck sales increased by 10.2% and retail SUV sales increased by 0.2%.
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Ford sold 3,739 electric vehicles Mustang Mach-E, a rival of Tesla’s Model Y. An F-150 hybrid truck also helped boost Ford’s sales of electric and hybrid vehicles last month to 9,267 units, an increase of 56% over the previous year and a record for February.
“Almost 70% of Mach-E orders are from competing brands, while just over a fifth were sold in California,” said the Ford statement. California is both the largest US market for EVs and the home of Tesla.
In a March 2 note, analysts at Morgan Stanley said the Ford Mustang Mach-E stole Tesla’s EV stake last month. “While sales of electric vehicles in the U.S. increased by 34% in February, Tesla’s share dropped to 69% from 81% in the previous year, they wrote.” The Ford Mustang Mach-E was responsible for almost 100% of the loss of participation “, they added.
Ford stock near points of purchase
Ford Motor shares lost 2% to 12.31 on Wednesday’s stock market. Ford’s stock briefly surpassed a tight buy point in four weeks of 12.50 intraday, according to MarketSmith chart analysis. However, those four tight weeks followed a short break from what was then a tight three weeks and an entry of 12.14. Arguably, this is a better buy point, along with 12.25, above the left side of the short consolidation.
Tesla’s shares fell 2.1%. From China Nio (NIO) retreated 2.4%, continuing its post-profit decline after warning that the chip shortage will hit EV production. Stellantis (STLA), formerly Fiat Chrysler, fell 2.6% amid gains and General Motors (GM) gave up 1%.
On Wednesday, Ford also released record sales in February of its heavy commercial trucks F-650 and F-750. Sales jumped 143% to 1,686 units.
Ford’s all-electric commercial van will go on sale later this year. A fully electric F-150 truck is due to arrive next year.
Global auto sales in the U.S. reached an annual pace of 16 million vehicles in February, JD Power and LMC Automotive estimate. This decreased from 16.8 million in January 2021 and from 16.6 million in February 2020.
Last month, Ford said it would start selling the Mustang Mach-E in Europe by investing $ 1 billion in an electric vehicle plant on the continent. Ford also plans to make Mach-E in China.
By 2030, Ford’s entire line of passenger cars in Europe will be fully electric. It is investing $ 29 billion to develop electric vehicles and self-driving cars over the next five years.
Find Aparna Narayanan on Twitter at @IBD_Aparna.
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