With rising fuel costs and a slumping economy, it comes as no real surprise that truck and SUV sales are on the decline. However, it is quite shocking to see just how far those sales have dropped in such a short time. Ford announced on Thursday that April sales of its F-150 — the best selling truck in the U.S. for over three decades — dropped off by 21 percent.
Ford’s overall truck sales plummeted 19 percent in April and SUV sales fell by a whopping 36 percent. With that kind of drop off, we’re not sure that even a more economical 4.4L diesel powerplant will rally enough sales to stop the bleeding.
According to Automotive News, Ford ’s April sales — including all divisions — fell 12.1 percent to 200,007 units.
While the Blue Oval’s truck division fell flat on its face, the Ford Focus was a bright spot for the Dearborn-based automaker. The fuel-sipping compact saw its sales rise 43.5 percent from last April, with Focus retail sales up 88 percent. The Ford Escape, Edge and Fusion, Mercury Milan and Mariner and Lincoln MKX also saw an April sales increase.
Ironically, Ford’s soon-to-be-Tata-owned Jaguar division posted a 25.4 percent April sales gain, thanks to strong sales of its new XF sedan.
In other automaker news, Toyota saw its April sales drop — 2.7 percent for the Toyota brand and a sharp 22.1 percent decrease for the Japanese automaker’s Lexus brand.
Mercedes-Benz saw a slight April dip — falling 3 percent — but the overall group was buoyed by strong sales of the company’s Smart brand. Smart sold 2,683 units during the month of April.
