Ford's sales slip 2% as it readies for F-150 launch

Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales dipped 1.7 percent to 188,654 units in October.

DETROIT, MI - Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales dipped 1.7 percent to 188,654 units in October. The Dearborn company said the expected decline was due to plant changeover for the introduction of the all-new, 2015 Ford F-150 pickup.

Sales increases were driven by the Fusion, Escape, Explorer and Transit Connect models.

For the Fusion, October was a record month, with 22,846 units sold, a rise of 5 percent year-over-year.

"Fusion is an outstanding success story with October marking six straight months of record sales," John Felice, Ford vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service, said in a statement. "Fusion is on pace to break the 300,000-vehicle mark this year for the first time ever. Plus, based on the strong
sales of the all-new MKC, Lincoln produced its best sales results in October since 2007."

Escape, too, had its best-ever October performance, with a rise of 11 percent on annual basis to 24,919 vehicles sold. Explorer sales were up 6 percent to 14,455 units, marking the SUV's best performance since 2004. Sales of the Transit Connect vans were up 28 percent to an October record of 4,068 units sold. 

But the Ford brand's sales were pulled down in part by declines of 9.1 percent for the Focus (at 13,733 units), of 16.3 percent for the Fiesta (at 3,629 units) and of 34.0 percent for the Mustang (at 4,565 units). Sales of the Edge also fell 16.8 percent to 7,225 units.

Total Ford brand sales were down 2.7 percent year-over-year to 179,771 units in October. 

They were offset by sales of the Lincoln brand vehicles, which grew 25 percent to 8,883 vehicles sold, marking Lincoln's best October since 2007. The brand's strong result stemmed entirely from SUVs, with the introduction of the MKC helping to boost Lincoln utilities sales by 77.1 percent. Lincoln car sales, which include the MKZ and MKS models, fell by 20.8 percent to 3,032 units.