By: Patrick Rall
Source: Torque News, September 2, 2011
Ford Motor Company had another strong month in August 2011, lead in part by the increase in year over year sales by their Lincoln brand which continues to push ahead without new models.
When Ford Motor Company opted to kill off the Mercury brand, Lincoln-Mercury dealerships around the country were left to struggle with just a single, expensive brand but after the initial drop felt by losing Mercury, the Lincoln dealerships saw their second strong month in a row. Also, with 167,214 units sold in August, Ford was the single largest brand in the American auto industry.
The Lincoln brand was the top performer in terms of growth in August 2011 for Ford Motor Company with an increase of 25% compared to August 2010. The Lincoln MKZ (cousin of the Ford Fusion) led the luxury brand in growth with an increase of 50% over last year while also leading the brand in sales with 2,337 units sold. The Lincoln Town Car was the next best in terms of growth with a 45% improvement and the Lincoln MKS was third in growth with a jump of 35%. The Lincoln MKX was 4th in growth with a 15% increase while the MKT and Navigator were the only two models in the lineup to show a decline in sales.
The Ford brand was next in line in growth among the two brands of the Motor Company with an improvement of 16% over last August. The top model from Ford in terms of growth was the new Ford Explorer with a gain of 300% over last year – although last year’s sales were based on the old Explorer. The Crown Victoria was second in growth with a gain of 141% with the new Ford Fiesta continuing to grow with a jump of 76% over August 2010. As always, the Ford F Series lineup was the bestselling model from Ford with 48,795 (also making the F Series the bestselling model in America) with the Ford Escape ranking second in sales with 20,607 units sold and the Ford Fusion was third with 17,925 sedans sold.
Ford is expected to bring out more new or redesigned models as well as a vast refresh of the Lincoln lineup over the next year and as we head into auto show season, there could be more good things to come for the folks behind the blue oval.