Ford Sales Flat In November; Cars Up, Trucks Down

Ford buyers’ shift to cars from trucks continued unabated in November. While the F-Series booked a 20% drop, reflecting a weak construction and discretionary truck market, passenger cars sales increased a tidy 14%. Net: Zero. The big winner at Ford is the Fusion, up 54%, and setting a new full year sales record. The details:First, the big picture of the various brands:

Ford brand vehicles overall were up 2%, driven by stronger passenger car sales and crossovers. As mentioned, the Fusion led the way, especially with a trend-busting 18% increase YTD. The Taurus also booked a 54% increase, with totals for the month at 4,669 units. The Mustang was flat, and the Flex was down 8%, unable to catch any significant momentum despite a renewed marketing effort. Focus booked a reasonable 24% increase, but is still down for the year. The Escape is still strong, up 51%, and ahead for the year.

That’s it for most of the good news, because Mercury and Lincoln are struggling:

Were it not for the Milan’s 40% increase, Mercury would be in the ditch. Less than 7k total unit were moved at the sign of the cat.

The news was even worse at Lincoln: total sales for the month barely broke 6k. The MKS faltered, down 27%. The Town Car is fading away, MKX and navigator are drooping, and the new MKT couldn’t help with 648 units. Total Lincoln sales are down 20% for the month and 26& YTD.

Volvo eked out a 5% gain, thanks to the new XC60 instant best seller status of the brand. Except for the C70, declines were across the board. Volvo is down 18% for the year so far.

Hybrid sales for all Ford brands were up a tidy 73%, reflecting the Fusion’s new membership in the club.

Ford overall remains down 19% YTD. But production plans for the first quarter 2010 are set for 550k units, which would be a 58% increase over the dismal Q1 of 2009.