Ford Motor Co F-N reported a 6.8 per cent fall in 2021 U.S. vehicle sales on Wednesday, as the automaker struggled to deliver its cars and trucks due to lingering supply-chain bottlenecks and a global chip shortage.
The Detroit automaker sold 1,905,955 vehicles in 2021, ending up behind new U.S. leader Toyota Motor Corp TM-N and rival General Motors Co GM-N. Ford had sold 2,044,744 vehicles a year earlier.
Ford’s shares extended losses to trade down about 3 per cent after the sales report.
Total U.S. light vehicle sales for 2021 were just under 15 million, according to Wards Intelligence, below the five-year average of 17.3 million from 2015 to 2019.
Sales of Ford’s Mustang Mach-E electric crossover were 27,140 for 2021. The company plans to triple annual production of the electric crossover to more than 200,000 by 2023, to meet better-than-anticipated demand.
Ford has been focusing on its EV strategy and said on Tuesday it would nearly double annual production capacity for its red-hot F-150 Lightning electric pickup to 150,000 vehicles.
Shares of Ford gained about 136 per cent in 2021, outperforming GM’s 40.8 per cent rise and EV leader Tesla Inc’s 49.7 per cent jump, as investors bet that buyers will lap up the electric version of the F-150.
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