US legacy automaker Ford's BEV sales in its home market grew by 129pc year-on-year in April, with the company's US year-to-date all-electric sales almost double where they were the same point last year.
A figure of 129pc growth is, admittedly, relative to peculiarly poor sales in April '23. But the 8,019 BEVs sold by Ford in the US last month still rank is as the fourth strongest month in the automaker's history (see Fig.1).
Fig.1: Fourth best-ever month for Ford US BEV volumes
Ford makes no secret of the fact that its long-term EV growth lies in its next-generation platform, and evidence is mounting that the OEM is re-ordering its upcoming releases to bring forward a compact EV made by its 'skunkworks' team designed to compete with Chinese offerings.
The company might therefore be inclined to view relatively strong sales performances of its first-gen EVs as bonus territory. Or not, if it is continuing to lose money on them — especially those sold to private buyers in the firm's Model e division, rather than the fleet sales in its Ford Pro segment where software bundles could be lessening the pain somewhat.
Compared to March, April's volumes were a 12pc sequential decline. But that is not as severe as it may sound, considering that March was Ford's second best month ever for US BEV deliveries, behind only December '23.
Fig.2: Cumulative sales moving ever further ahead of last year
The automaker's year-to-date US all-electric total is beginning to exhibit significant growth over 2023. Last year it took Ford until after June to reach the total US BEV deliveries accomplished this year by the end of April (see Fig.2).
Ciaran has written about finance, politics and culture. He is passionate about e-mobility and what it means for our way of life.
Ciaran has a Masters in Ancient Philosophy from Oxford University.
