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Ford Motor Company 2020 2Q Quarterly Sales Report


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News was actually quite good overall (Escape being the lone headscratcher) - especially when you consider the loss of Fiesta and Fusion sales on the car side.

 

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Coronavirus concerns clearly affected Q2. Ford’s overall Q2 sales were down 33.3 percent, while retail was down much less than industry at 14.3 percent


Shutdowns and shelter-in-place restrictions had the largest impact on fleet sales in Q2. Daily rental was down 94 percent, while commercial was off 78 percent from production shutdowns –commercial performance did improve sequentially through the quarter


Ford, along with its dealer network, made a rapid shift to online and remote sales. As a result, Ford retail share grew an estimated full percentage point to 13.3 percent –Ford’s best retail share quarter in five years


Ford’s focus on its winning portfolio of trucks and SUVs drove retail share growth in Q2. Ford overall truck and SUVs grew their estimated share of retail truck and SUV segment by more than a full percentage point in Q2. Ford’s overall truck and SUV retail share totaled over 16.5 percent of the combined segment


F-Series Q2 overall sales total 180,825 pickups, while expanding its retail share of segment. F-Series expanded its leadership position in Q2 with an estimated 2.6 percentage point increase in retail share


Ranger overall sales gain 19.8 percent in Q2. Sales totaled 25,008 pickups for the quarter


Through June, Explorer leads as America’s best-selling mid-size SUV with sales of 101,149 vehicles. Total Explorer sales bucked the industry with sales up 12.4 percent


Lincoln SUV retail share continues to make big gains in a difficult luxury vehicle environment. Lincoln’s estimated retail share of the premium SUV segment expanded 1.5 percentage points to more than 7 percent of share of segment in Q2. Expansion came from Lincoln’s newest SUV products: Aviator and Corsair

 

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I really think Ford needs to come up with some appearance packages for the SE Escape. Some better wheels would be a good start. The previous generation Escape SE looked decent and sold well. This 2020 Escape SE looks like a stripper model with its unattractive wheels.

 

At my Ford dealer, they have about 30 SE's gathering dust, 3 SEL's, 1 Titanium ICE, and 2 Titanium Hybrids. About the same ratio at the 4 other Ford dealers around here.

 

I'm sure Ford is aware of this and will make corrections for 2021 MY. Escape is too important to ignore unless Ford is going to throw another brand under the bus and just go with baby Bronco.

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23 minutes ago, rperez817 said:

 

Escape sales trends may improve if Ford gets more hybrid and plug-in hybrid models produced for the U.S. market.

 

I don't think Ford has the battery supply chain to build more than 50,000 or so/year. For example, Toyota just announced only 5,000 RAV4 plugins available for sale this year and 20,000 next year. And Toyota has a more robust supply chain than Ford. To increase Escape sales, the SE with the 1.5 needs to be improved. Lots of other companies are going with 3 cylinder turbos, so I don't think that is a problem. Maybe Apperance and a little more noise cancellation insulation? With the rebates, price seems to be reasonable.

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I don't think they'll tinker too much with Escape until Bronco Sport arrives and they see how it works with both on the lot at the same time.

 

They may have sold a bunch of SEs with the previous gen but given the huge discounts they probably weren't generating any profit.   Better to have 20K units making a profit than 50K breaking even or losing money.

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24 minutes ago, FordBuyer said:

To increase Escape sales, the SE with the 1.5 needs to be improved.

 

Good suggestion FordBuyer sir. The 1.5L 3-cylinder Ecoboost engine delivers adequate power and fuel economy. But its NVH characteristics are awful. Bad enough to be a deal breaker, even for Ford loyalists.

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1 hour ago, silvrsvt said:

Only major disappointment given the current conditions is the Escape sales. 

 

The Ranger and Explorer are nice surprises, along with Lincoln sales dropping less then 20%. 

I noticed the same thing about the Escape.  I am not a fan of the redesign.

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1 minute ago, robertlane said:

I noticed the same thing about the Escape.  I am not a fan of the redesign.

 

It looks far better in person and in something besides white or black. 

Given the market is down about 20-25% overall-the Escape was down about 10% more, which isn't terrible, but also I wonder if they are trying to restructure sales to sell less of the higher end models vs popping out SE models that don't make as much. 

Then add in the Bronco Sport this time next year and sales numbers should be interesting. 

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46 minutes ago, akirby said:

I don't think they'll tinker too much with Escape until Bronco Sport arrives and they see how it works with both on the lot at the same time.

 

In the market for a new vehicle, we had our minds set on a Escape PHEV.  That's on hold until I see the new Bronco(s).  Maybe other folks doing the same.

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57 minutes ago, rperez817 said:

 

Good suggestion FordBuyer sir. The 1.5L 3-cylinder Ecoboost engine delivers adequate power and fuel economy. But its NVH characteristics are awful. Bad enough to be a deal breaker, even for Ford loyalists.

 

Have you driven one?  It's not this hell-hole wailing and gnashing of teeth sounding thing that people make it out to be.

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21 minutes ago, silvrsvt said:

 

It looks far better in person and in something besides white or black. 

Given the market is down about 20-25% overall-the Escape was down about 10% more, which isn't terrible, but also I wonder if they are trying to restructure sales to sell less of the higher end models vs popping out SE models that don't make as much. 

Then add in the Bronco Sport this time next year and sales numbers should be interesting. 


If you look at the big picture, I don’t think things look good for escape (down 49%). The Ecosport is a terrible vehicle and it was only down 19%. Edge Has had the same interior forever and is overdue for a full redesign and it was only down 36%. If you look at the other CUVs in ford’s line up that were recently redesigned, the picture looks even worse. Explorer actually increased 12% and outsold the escape. Corsair was only down 8%.

 

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2 minutes ago, T-dubz said:


If you look at the big picture, I don’t think things look good for escape (down 49%). The Ecosport is a terrible vehicle and it was only down 19%. Edge Has had the same interior forever and is overdue for a full redesign and it was only down 36%. If you look at the other CUVs in ford’s line up that were recently redesigned, the picture looks even worse. Explorer actually increased 12% and outsold the escape. Corsair was only down 8%.

 

 

I'd like to see the breakdown of Explorer retail vs. Explorer fleet sales.   A lot of cities here in Fla. use the Explorer for police and government vehicles.

Maybe Ford will see a bump in Explorer police sales due to the riots? :)

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7 minutes ago, robertlane said:

 

I'd like to see the breakdown of Explorer retail vs. Explorer fleet sales.   A lot of cities here in Fla. use the Explorer for police and government vehicles.

Maybe Ford will see a bump in Explorer police sales due to the riots? :)


Hmm, I wonder why they stopped separating PI sales from regular Explorer 

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20 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

Have you driven one?  It's not this hell-hole wailing and gnashing of teeth sounding thing that people make it out to be.

 

Yes sir, I test drove a 2020 Escape SE FWD at Autonation Ford several months ago while taking care of maintenance for my Ranger. Engine NVH was every bit as horrible as professional reviewers claimed. My salesman to his credit recommended the SE Sport Hybrid version, which I also test drove and was much much better. 

 

Hopefully Ford can get supply chain issues for hybrid HV batteries sorted out as FordBuyer mentioned so that it can produce more Escape Hybrid models for the U.S. 

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4 minutes ago, rperez817 said:

 

Yes sir, I test drove a 2020 Escape SE FWD at Autonation Ford several months ago while taking care of maintenance for my Ranger. Engine NVH was every bit as horrible as professional reviewers claimed. My salesman to his credit recommended the SE Sport Hybrid version, which I also test drove and was much much better. 

 

Hopefully Ford can get supply chain issues for hybrid HV batteries sorted out as FordBuyer mentioned so that it can produce more Escape Hybrid models for the U.S. 

 

To each their own then.  While it certainly wasn't Lexus quiet, but I wouldn't classify it as horrible at all.

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1 hour ago, akirby said:

I don't think they'll tinker too much with Escape until Bronco Sport arrives and they see how it works with both on the lot at the same time.

 

They may have sold a bunch of SEs with the previous gen but given the huge discounts they probably weren't generating any profit.   Better to have 20K units making a profit than 50K breaking even or losing money.

 

Good point. But I still think some low cost appearance packages would spice up the SE Escape and help move them off the lots. Ford offered that package on the Ranger and 2021 Explorer gets one. Or maybe just offer the premium package on the SE like they do on the SE Sport Hybrid. The SE model is the high volume trim line and it badly needs spicing up IMO. Better that than just blowing them out at a loss.

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46 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

 

Have you driven one?  It's not this hell-hole wailing and gnashing of teeth sounding thing that people make it out to be.

 

You are probably right as the negative biased Ford reviewers out there love to pile it on. But a little extra insulation wouldn't hurt and cost little to do. It seems like the engine has plenty of power at 181 hp, but wouldn't take much to make it sound like 4 cylinder. Continual improvement is a good thing to do. Listen to your critics and improve where you can.

 

 

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22 minutes ago, FordBuyer said:

The SE model is the high volume trim line and it badly needs spicing up IMO. Better that than just blowing them out at a loss.

 

The thing is that what they where doing with it in the previous gen. Its pretty bad when a 4 year newer SE model has more equipment on it then a 2013 Ti model. 

 

Ford has to hold the line pricing some where to make money off the Escape...esp when its the volume leader like the SE model. 

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The 1.5 EB is fine. I don't think it is the reason why Escape sales seems to be treading water.

 

I think this breaks down to a couple of things combined:

 

1. Ford let the old Escape and C-Max linger on too long so it lost a significant portion of return buyers with 36 months lease. Some might have taken up on the mid cycle refresh model but they are not going to come back a 3rd time for the same basic model. Those lost sales in year 6 and 7 of the model cycle can really cripple the sales or next gen. Think of all the previous C-Max owners now driving RAV4 hybrid...

2. Competition step on Escape's throat the last 2 years with much better and improved products. Compact CUV is the most intensely contested segment now and everyone was playing their A game here. Once you fell down from the top 2 or 3 position in a segment, it's hard to climb back.

3. The redesign doesn't look premium enough. This is obviously subjective opinion but I question Ford's decision to put a black plastic rear bumper on the Escape and a bunch of little styling details that make the car look cheap. I'm sure that saved money but it didn't make a good first impression. This is an easy fix.

4. There is some questionable use of low grade plastic inside. Some people don't mind but if you sat in Mazda CX-5 and Escape back to back, you may be wondering why Escape is more expensive. So the car is sending some mixed messages on value proposition.

5. Ford is clearly trying to control volume. Hackett is all about increasing margin which is fine but you can't continue to limit volume to try to improve margin because the high fixed costs. At some point, the bills will need to be paid. I think Ford is exporting Escape from Louisvelle to most of the Americas... For example, the new Kuga just went on sale in Argentina and it is imported from the US instead of the previous one from Spain. So maybe Ford is doing ok on utilization overall... hard to get a clear read unless you have access to better data. 

 

 

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