Ford Starts Off the New Year by Pissing Us Off

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems
ford starts off the new year by pissing us off

Are there fits of childlike, fists-clenched glee occurring in the Glass House right now? Quite possibly, and not just because someone brought a scooter into the building.

Don’t say we didn’t predict it. Ford, following in the footsteps of rival General Motors, says it plans to switch to quarterly sales reporting in 2019. While this move would even out the monthly spikes and troughs caused by fleet timing, it ends up meaning less data available to journos and the public.

The rage felt by those who enjoy poring over monthly sales stats burns like a thousand Ivy Mike bombs. Matthew Guy just took a header into a snowbank to cool off.

In breaking the seal, GM started an annoying trend that’ll surely be picked up by other automakers (Tesla reports quarterly, but GM was first among legacy OEMs). Don’t be surprised to see Fiat Chrysler go the same route by the end of the year.

While many regard the move as a way of keeping the PR ball mostly in the automaker’s court in this new era of cooling auto sales, companies (and some analysts) would argue that quarterly reports provide a clearer picture of a vehicle’s sales health over the long run. That doesn’t mean we can’t piss and moan about it.

As for actual sales, Ford’s 2018 report card is in. With total fleet sales up just a tick, Ford’s U.S. sales volume fell 3.5 percent last year, with the Blue Oval brand showing a 3.3 percent loss and the Lincoln division posting a 6.8 percent drop. December sales (this is the last time we’ll have to say those words in relation to Ford) fell 8.8 percent — a figure encompassing both brands.

How did Ford’s volume break down in relation to bodystyle? Take a guess. This is the company that celebrated 2018 by culling all cars save the Mustang, so traditional passenger vehicles boasting trunks and hatchbacks did not fare well — not that they’re doing all that hot anywhere else. Sales of Ford and Lincoln cars sank 18.4 percent in 2018. Crossovers and SUVs barely made it into the red, with a 0.5 percent sales increase. Trucks, on the other hand, posted a gain (shocker!), with sales up 1.4 percent. Expect their share of Ford’s volume to rise markedly in 2019, once the Ranger comes online.

We’ll have a full overview of the industry’s 2018 sales for you later today. Matthew just needs to thaw out first.

[Image: Ford Motor Company]

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  • Inside Looking Out Inside Looking Out on Jan 03, 2019

    No big deal. All Silicon Valley companies report only quarterly results. I personally do not care how much they sell each month.

  • Don1967 Don1967 on Jan 04, 2019

    Pity the modern auto journalist who will feel lost without a constant stream of data porn to copy and paste, or the millennial whose iPhone will suddenly go blank right in the middle of eating his Frosted Flakes. I fear that this trend will spread to Wall Street, where financial reporters will start providing thoughtful analysis into long-term business fundamentals while the most recent Trump tweet gets completely ignored. These are dark times in which we live.

  • Arthur Dailey What the heck is an 'influencer'?And who would buy or do something because somebody on a social media site told them to or recommended/flogged something?Maybe I am just too old and cynical to understand those who actually are 'influenced'? But then I also never trusted or was 'influenced' by celebrity endorsements or product placements.However I did know and coach a teenager who became extremely wealthy because he set up a Youtube channel where people paid to watch him and his friends play video games.
  • Dukeisduke $8,000 for this rustbucket? It's a '73, not a '74 ("Registered and titled as a 1973…it looks like a ‘74 to me"), and anyway, mid to late '60s Alfa Berlinas are much more desirable.Even if you kept it in a garage and didn't drive it in the rain, it wouldn't stop rusting, it might just progress more slowly. This looks more like a parts car than something you'd drive. It needs rear main seals all over the car, so that oil leaks can slow down the rust, like all the oil on the underbody.
  • Analoggrotto Only the truly influential , affluent, educated and elite drive TESLAs. This is a fake influencer.
  • Analoggrotto Looking forward to the comments.
  • Dukeisduke Where the hell did he get the money for all those? Likes on YouTube?
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