Ford Sales July 2026 - Down 10.2% Overall

[Flying68]

Encouraging to see that inventory levels are sitting around 2.6 months for Ford and 4.5 months for Lincoln (largely driven by Nautilus).  All the talking heads on the youtube keep saying that Ford has tons of inventory that isn't selling (a large number of 2025's still) but the averages say otherwise.  Likely most of the aged inventory is probably sitting at bad dealers.

[rmc523]

2 hours ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

Apparently Ford's internal information/market studies are showing that isn't the case.

 

Eh, I'd question that data.  A lot of people buy on size, and jumping from Escape to Explorer is quite a jump size wise.

 

1 hour ago, akirby said:

But did Ford actually say that or was that just what we discussed?  
 

You don't need to transition buyers to other products.  Some will naturally but especially with Escape and the high fleet sales they're better off financially just killing it.  But we all know the replacement for Escape and Corsair are UEP products, just like Bronco Sport and Maverick replaced Fusuin.

 

We had a whole thread on the reports that Ford is offering big incentives for Escape buyers to jump to Explorer.

 

1 hour ago, ExplorerDude said:

 

This is also partially by design. There is a well known plan to keep reducing Lincoln dealers and removing Corsair (for the time being) is meant to “starve” some of the Lincoln dealers who rely on Corsair for volume. 

 

There are currently 430 Lincoln franchises and the goal is to get that down to 250-300 by the end of the decade.

 

The plan was more about ending Escape than Corsair but the side effect is hoping to continue reducing Lincoln dealers who don’t want to build the standalone vitrine.

 

The irony is that why would dealers want to invest in a standalone dealer facility for a brand that continues to cut product?

 

42 minutes ago, Deanh said:

apparently a replacement for the Escape is inthe pipelines... The Bronco Sport will remain its own entity....expect some more drivetrain choices....

 

Yeah, it's to be a CE1 BEV model, right?

 

Sounds like BS will finally get the hybrid it's needed for a while.

[joseodiaga4]

3 hours ago, rmc523 said:

 

Didn't realize that....that makes more sense why it was down so much!

 

 

If the above is true about a stop sale, dealers can't sell what they can't sell.

 

I'm more skeptical on the importing Corsair plan with that rumor about it being built here is true.....but that will take years, and they need something in the meantime.

 

 

I feel like that was a copy-paste blurb from the June sales lol.

 

 

I think the short-term strategy is to put Corsair customers into Nautilus, but if there was a stop sale on it, not much dealers can do about that....

Of course they cannot sell what they can't, but if you loose 25%+ of your monthly sale and you plan to "replace" it with another, You'd think they'd make sure that other product was okay, right?

3 hours ago, akirby said:

The strategy is to import Corsair from China but that takes time.  And there is a stop sale on Nautilus

 

 

Importing a product takes time, but I don't think that leaving your lineup with only 3 models and wait makes sense, specially if you consider that the decision to stop making the Corsair in the US is not new

2 hours ago, ExplorerDude said:

 

This is also partially by design. There is a well known plan to keep reducing Lincoln dealers and removing Corsair (for the time being) is meant to “starve” some of the Lincoln dealers who rely on Corsair for volume. 

 

There are currently 430 Lincoln franchises and the goal is to get that down to 250-300 by the end of the decade.

 

The plan was more about ending Escape than Corsair but the side effect is hoping to continue reducing Lincoln dealers who don’t want to build the standalone vitrine.

I understand the need to get down the franchises but it is ironic, why would a dealer invest in a standalone dealer for a brand that cut products and is not showing something new and aside some refreshes, have nothing in store for at least 2-3 years.

 

[rmc523]

5 minutes ago, joseodiaga4 said:

Of course they cannot sell what they can't, but if you loose 25%+ of your monthly sale and you plan to "replace" it with another, You'd think they'd make sure that other product was okay, right?

 

Importing a product takes time, but I don't think that leaving your lineup with only 3 models and wait makes sense, specially if you consider that the decision to stop making the Corsair in the US is not new

 

I understand the need to get down the franchises but it is ironic, why would a dealer invest in a standalone dealer for a brand that cut products and is not showing something new and aside some refreshes, have nothing in store for at least 2-3 years.

 

 

Yup, I'm not disagreeing with you.  The Nautilus component is an unforeseen issue due to a recall hold, so it's hard to fault sales data on an aberration like that.  I'm sure we'll see a corresponding spike this month accounting for the sales delay.  The Corsair decision of cutting 1/4 of the lineup without a more smooth transition plan is absolutely on them.

Edited August 5 by rmc523

[BenKohnen]

2 hours ago, Flying68 said:

Encouraging to see that inventory levels are sitting around 2.6 months for Ford and 4.5 months for Lincoln (largely driven by Nautilus).  All the talking heads on the youtube keep saying that Ford has tons of inventory that isn't selling (a large number of 2025's still) but the averages say otherwise.  Likely most of the aged inventory is probably sitting at bad dealers.

It's shocking how much inventory can become aged through no fault of the dealer. We just delivered our very last 2025, a Ranger that sat here with SIX different stop-sale recalls at assorted and overlapping times. The recalls would come out, stop sale goes into effect, but no fix available for 5, 6, 8 months. Had three different very serious buyers ready to pull the trigger on it through the 14 months it sat unsellable, then they found other options and bought those... elsewhere.
When a recall goes into effect that isn't a "do not drive" issue, it's just painful having to sit on those vehicles knowing the guy who bought one 24 hours before the recall launched is out driving it without issues. And how do you explain to a buyer that no, there's actually not a danger, but we're not allowed to even test drive the vehicle because of the early-launch recall?

[twintornados]

Talking about sales, I took a 50 minute drive to a neighboring town to look at a leftover 2025 Mustang 60th anniversary convertible in Race Red....sharp but was perplexed about why such an exciting car was languishing on the lot...apparently there is a "stop sale" on it due to a wiper issue (wont work as designed in freezing temps) and I could not even test drive it. But, their offer was a joke for my trade (would have to wholesale it....sure) and they "generously" offered 3K off sticker...the part needed to make the recall repair has been on order since March....I told the sales manager, "You know the window to enjoy this car is closing in 30-45 days..." He shrugged his shoulders and claimed there was not much he could do.....needless to say, I left. 

Edited August 5 by twintornados

[BenKohnen]

He wasn't kidding, there was 100% nothing he could do. Federal penalties apply if a dealer sells a new vehicle with an open recall, to the tune of $27k and change. Add to that Ford killing your allocations for a while, and if it's not a first offence, potentially coming and retrieving inventory, signage, and all other Ford items. Not worth the pain.
We actually had a Dark Horse sitting in the showroom through several recalls as well . Couldn't touch the stupid thing. Just after it had its birthday celebration here we were able to move it, right around April.

[akirby]

6 minutes ago, twintornados said:

Talking about sales, I took a 50 minute drive to a neighboring town to look at a leftover 2025 Mustang 60th anniversary convertible in Race Red....sharp but was perplexed about why such an exciting car was languishing on the lot...apparently there is a "stop sale" on it due to a wiper issue (wont work as designed in freezing temps) and I could not even test drive it. But, their offer was a joke for my trade (would have to wholesale it....sure) and they "generously" offered 3K off sticker...the part needed to make the recall repair has been on order since March....I told the sales manager, "You know the window to enjoy this car is closing in 30-45 days..." He shrugged his shoulders and claimed there was not much he could do.....needless to say, I left. 

Why would a dealer offer more than wholesale on your trade when they can buy 20 of them at auction?  Anything over wholesale is just a discount on the new one.

[Deanh]

15 minutes ago, akirby said:

Why would a dealer offer more than wholesale on your trade when they can buy 20 of them at auction?  Anything over wholesale is just a discount on the new one.

we refer to it as peeling the Banana from both ends.....

[Deanh]

2 hours ago, BenKohnen said:

It's shocking how much inventory can become aged through no fault of the dealer. We just delivered our very last 2025, a Ranger that sat here with SIX different stop-sale recalls at assorted and overlapping times. The recalls would come out, stop sale goes into effect, but no fix available for 5, 6, 8 months. Had three different very serious buyers ready to pull the trigger on it through the 14 months it sat unsellable, then they found other options and bought those... elsewhere.
When a recall goes into effect that isn't a "do not drive" issue, it's just painful having to sit on those vehicles knowing the guy who bought one 24 hours before the recall launched is out driving it without issues. And how do you explain to a buyer that no, there's actually not a danger, but we're not allowed to even test drive the vehicle because of the early-launch recall?

been way to many of those and consequently backed up inventory...going through it right now on some Explorers and something to do with the second row seats....and some 2025 Broncos STILL sitting here...

 

[Sherminator98]

6 hours ago, rmc523 said:

Eh, I'd question that data.  A lot of people buy on size, and jumping from Escape to Explorer is quite a jump size wise.

 

Yes it is, but hear me out on this one-is someone buying an Escape because they can't afford the Explorer or is it the size of it? Given how US market is, I think people who are looking at this type of vehicle would buy the larger one if they can swing it. 

That is is the issue-smaller products sell mostly because they are cheaper, not because they have a large/natural demand for them (at least in the NA market)

 

If I had a family and was driving an Escape and couldn't get it anymore, and Ford made it possible to get into an Explorer for say $5-8K more ($150 more a month roughly) I think a large portion of people would do it. 

[twintornados]

12 hours ago, akirby said:

Why would a dealer offer more than wholesale on your trade when they can buy 20 of them at auction?  Anything over wholesale is just a discount on the new one.

 

They could've "wow'ed" me with more $$ but they didn't.....anyone want a leftover Mustang? 

[rmc523]

13 hours ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

Yes it is, but hear me out on this one-is someone buying an Escape because they can't afford the Explorer or is it the size of it? Given how US market is, I think people who are looking at this type of vehicle would buy the larger one if they can swing it. 

That is is the issue-smaller products sell mostly because they are cheaper, not because they have a large/natural demand for them (at least in the NA market)

 

If I had a family and was driving an Escape and couldn't get it anymore, and Ford made it possible to get into an Explorer for say $5-8K more ($150 more a month roughly) I think a large portion of people would do it. 

 

That's fair......I'm just saying that that's not going to apply to all buyers.

[fuzzymoomoo]

On 8/5/2026 at 3:01 AM, jpd80 said:

That and to Ford’s credit, F Series 68,000 sales achieved with tight inventory (186,000)

The only way the active that was with good forward inventory planning and not excess

building of trims that subsequently had to be heavily discount….

I’ve made a couple trips to my dealer lately for parts and tires and yesterday for the first time in a while I saw a high end F-150 Platinum sitting on the lot. Looked like it just came off the truck. 

[Schpark]

4 hours ago, rmc523 said:

 

That's fair......I'm just saying that that's not going to apply to all buyers.

Does not apply to me, we are close to empty nesters that downsized from larger SUV's and the wife much prefers the size of the Escape. What the ratio of buyer types I do not know.

[tbone]

On 8/5/2026 at 3:46 PM, BenKohnen said:

It's shocking how much inventory can become aged through no fault of the dealer. We just delivered our very last 2025, a Ranger that sat here with SIX different stop-sale recalls at assorted and overlapping times. The recalls would come out, stop sale goes into effect, but no fix available for 5, 6, 8 months. Had three different very serious buyers ready to pull the trigger on it through the 14 months it sat unsellable, then they found other options and bought those... elsewhere.
When a recall goes into effect that isn't a "do not drive" issue, it's just painful having to sit on those vehicles knowing the guy who bought one 24 hours before the recall launched is out driving it without issues. And how do you explain to a buyer that no, there's actually not a danger, but we're not allowed to even test drive the vehicle because of the early-launch recall?

Who carries the floor plan on situations like these? The dealer or Ford?

[tbone]

On 8/4/2026 at 7:32 PM, akirby said:

What's not to understand?  They killed escape/corsair to make factory room for all the UEP products including the ones in 29 and 30.   And cut out non profitable daily rental sales which was mostly Escape.  The fact that profit is not falling with these cutbacks should tell you something.

You reference factory room.  I have been out of the mix for a while, so forgive me if it has been discussed, but what about Blue Oval City?   Seems like there is plenty of room f or UEP, or shifting other product there. 

[rmc523]

29 minutes ago, tbone said:

You reference factory room.  I have been out of the mix for a while, so forgive me if it has been discussed, but what about Blue Oval City?   Seems like there is plenty of room f or UEP, or shifting other product there. 

 

I for a while said that they should've just made BOC their all-things EV plant, and left Louisville as a C2 plant.

 

However, by the time they decided to cancel T3 Lightning, it was already too late and they were too far down the road with the Louisville plans to reverse course for something like that.

 

BOC is now called Tennessee Truck plant (TTP), and is scheduled to produce some sort of new "affordable" (per Ford) ICE/hybrid truck model.  We've been speculating a lot on that, but the current consensus is that Ranger goes away, and is replaced by an "F-100" to be produced at TTP, leaving room for MAP to become the production place for Bronco plus Lincoln Bronco.  There are also rumors of a Bronco truck (think Gladiator), that to me makes most sense to also be at MAP since it'd likely share front clips and forward cab structure/interior with Bronco.

[BenKohnen]

On 8/5/2026 at 6:13 PM, Deanh said:

been way to many of those and consequently backed up inventory...going through it right now on some Explorers and something to do with the second row seats....and some 2025 Broncos STILL sitting here...

 

I hear that. We've got an Explorer Platinum on the showroom floor. Had folks come in and commit to buying it. Literally while they were here, the stop sale recall went into effect. Because the button to slide the 2nd row seats forward might stick in its bezel and cause the seat to not lock down into place. They still want it, but now they're going to have to take delivery in... what was the forecast on the fix, October, November, something like that? Just dumb. Had they been in the day before, zero problem. But now... 

 

2 hours ago, tbone said:

Who carries the floor plan on situations like these? The dealer or Ford?

Dealer eats it. [DrEvil]Pretty standard, really[/DrEvil]

[akirby]

I think there were other reasons for choosing Louisville over TTP like suppliers and the aforementioned desire to thin out the Lincoln dealers and kill Escape period.

[jpd80]

On 8/7/2026 at 1:44 AM, fuzzymoomoo said:

I’ve made a couple trips to my dealer lately for parts and tires and yesterday for the first time in a while I saw a high end F-150 Platinum sitting on the lot. Looked like it just came off the truck. 

And that Makes sense Fuzzy, I get a little annoyed  at the spin I see on certain YouTube videos regarding 

dealerships loaded up with older plate high series trucks and SUVs. I smile because we all know that

every one of those vehicles will get sold eventually and Ford will still make a profit on them.

[jpd80]

3 hours ago, akirby said:

I think there were other reasons for choosing Louisville over TTP like suppliers and the aforementioned desire to thin out the Lincoln dealers and kill Escape period.

I’m still wondering if the UEV’s open box build and simplified electrics is a pathway for replacing C2,

the UEV + range extender could be a way to reorganise products and eliminate a lot of C2’s inherent

expensive construction costs…gotta be a way of having your cake and eating it too…

Edited August 8 by jpd80

[Sherminator98]

4 hours ago, akirby said:

I think there were other reasons for choosing Louisville over TTP like suppliers and the aforementioned desire to thin out the Lincoln dealers and kill Escape period.

 

It would be simpler then that-you already have an existing workforce at LAP and wouldn't have "grow" one at TTP immediately. 

 

I can't remember the timeline for T3, but wasn't closer to 2028 or so? 

[tbone]

9 hours ago, BenKohnen said:

 

Dealer eats it. [DrEvil]Pretty standard, really[/DrEvil]

Well, that’s BS when the manufacturer is the cause of the hold.  Ford literally does nothing to compensate the dealer in anyway, even in a non-monetary manner, such as additional allocation, etc?

[rmc523]

15 hours ago, akirby said:

I think there were other reasons for choosing Louisville over TTP like suppliers and the aforementioned desire to thin out the Lincoln dealers and kill Escape period.

eh I feel like those were bonus reasons, especially the latter.

they were literally building battery factories Nextdoor for EV production too vs having to set up EV infrastructure at Louisville.

 

10 hours ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

It would be simpler then that-you already have an existing workforce at LAP and wouldn't have "grow" one at TTP immediately. 

 

I can't remember the timeline for T3, but wasn't closer to 2028 or so? 

Even so they’d have been setting up stuff for that while they needed to have things setup for CE1