Ford Motor (F) Q1 sales

A Ford Lighting pickup truck is seen outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 23, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

DETROIT – Ford Motor Company on Tuesday reported a roughly 10% increase in its quarterly U.S. sales, led by jumps in its critical F-Series trucks and Bronco SUVs.

The Detroit automaker sold 475,906 vehicles during the first three months of the year, up 10.1% from a year earlier lows due to supply chain issues. Its flagship brand rose 10.7%, while its luxury brand Lincoln was up 1.1%.

Ford truck sales rose nearly 20%, while car sales rose 5.1% and SUVs rose less than 1%. Ford’s electric car sales rose 41%. However, they only amounted to less than 10,900 vehicles, or about 2.3% of its quarterly sales.

Sales of the electric F-150 Lightning totaled 4,291 pickups during the quarter, which included several weeks off after one vehicle caught fire. Ford said Tuesday it is still on track to expand production of the electric pickup truck at a plant in Michigan to an annual production rate of 150,000 this year.

Ford reported sales of 170,377 F-Series pickup trucks, up about 21% from a year ago. Other notable sales increases included its Bronco SUV, up nearly 38%; Its Explorer SUV, up 36%; and its Expedition, which saw its sales nearly double.

“Ford is off to a fast start to the year. Ford’s sales growth and investments are a direct result of strong customer demand in our truck, SUV and electric vehicle segments,” said Andrew Frick, Ford vice president of sales and trucking distribution. in a statement.

Ford’s sales growth comes as Wall Street analysts monitor rising vehicle inventories and stimulus for the U.S. auto industry, following historic lows for both over the past three years.

“With inventory rising for the 8th month in a row, incentives are coming back. How much longer can car prices remain so unaffordable? We think rising inventory will be the ‘indicator’ of a breakdown in car pricing discipline.” industry,” Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas said in a. investor note monday night.

Incentives rose 3.5% year over year to $1,529 per car in March, from $1,490 last month, Jonas noted. The increase was largely from domestic automakers as inventories slowly dragged down. Both incentives and inventories are still lower than historic levels.

Morgan Stanley estimates that industry sales last month rose 8.7%, as automakers ramp up production levels after several years of significant supply chain problems.

General Motors on Monday said its first-quarter U.S. sales rose 18% from a year earlier to just over 600,000 vehicles delivered, as it continued its recovery from supply chain problems that limited global production. of vehicles in 2021 and early 2022.

— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.