Ford Sales Increase 2.4 Percent, Still Down 30 Percent on the Year

Ford’s press release ( PDF) makes no bones about the source of relatively high demand for its products. “The U.S. government’s Car Allowance Rebate System (“Cash for Clunkers”) enabled Ford to post the first sales increase of any major manufacturer in 2009,” is the word from Dearborn. And though Ford’s year-on-year sales for July did climb by 2.4 percent, July marks the first such increase since November 2007. Most of that growth came from Ford’s more fuel-efficient vehicles, as Fusion/Milan was up 66/60 percent, Escape/Mariner up 94/71 percent, Focus up 44 percent and Ranger up 65 percent. So, government-stimulated models aside, how are things looking for the Blue Oval Boyz?

Er, not so great after all. The much-vaunted Taurus is way down, shedding 57 percent compared to last July’s sales of the outgoing model. Ford’s other big hope, the Flex, sold only 3,631 units. Though that’s a year-on-year increase of nearly 65 percent, it breaks the model’s steady volume increase trajectory, having sold 4,784 units last month. And the Taurus isn’t the only recently-refreshed Ford that is failing to spark demand: the new 2010 Mustang has hit the skids, down 37.6 percent to 6,686 units. Edge is holding relatively steady, falling only 7.7 percent.

Ranger may be blowing up, but F-series is down 19 percent. Econoline/Club Wagon is doing even worse at -30 percent. Expedition is down 26 percent, but it’s closing the gap on Explorer which was down 42 percent to 3,108 units.

Lincoln is down across the board, with the single exception of an uptick in Town Car sales (up 95 percent to 1,841). That surge makes the Panther body Lincoln’s biggest volume seller, with MKX coming in second at 1,642 (down 18 percent). Milan and Mariner may be saving Mercury, but Sable (-84.8 percent to 345 units) and Mountaineer (-30 percent to 403 units) are helping drag it right back down. Meanwhile, Volvo’s S60 is enjoying an unexpected summer renaissance, up 257 percent to 1,461 units. XC90 is the biggest loser (down 45 percent) while V50 (+50 percent) and C70 (+27 percent) are hanging in there.