Ford Motor Co. reported Oct. 1 that U.S. sales in the third quarter rose 8.2% on the strength of the Ford brand, its pickups and a last-minute shopping surge for electric vehicles, but its luxury brand Lincoln reported a sales drop compared with the year-ago period.
For the quarter, Ford sold 545,522 vehicles, an 8.2% gain over the year-ago quarter. For January through September, Ford sold 1,658,908 vehicles in the United States, up 7.2% from sales in the same period last year.
The sales are supported mostly by the Ford brand, which sold 521,762 vehicles in the quarter, a 9.1% increase compared with the year-ago period. Its luxury brand, Lincoln, sold 23,760 vehicles, a 7.6% decline from the third-quarter 2024.
“This was a good quarter and a step in the right direction although Lincoln sales remain sluggish,” said Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities. “Still a work in progress.”
This is, however, seven consecutive months of sales gains for Ford. The Dearborn-based automaker said that beyond car sales, it also is seeing growth in sales of its digital services from Ford Pro, its commercial vehicle unit. Ford Pro Intelligence paid software subscriptions grew to 815,000 active subscriptions in the quarter, up by 30% year-over-year.
“This quarter’s growth showcases our portfolio’s unmatched flexibility and breadth,” Andrew Frick, president, Ford Blue and Model e, said in a statement. “We saw strong performance in gas, hybrid, and electrified powertrains, while at the same time growing our paid software solutions, all embedded in vehicles such as Expedition, Explorer and F-150.”
Across town, General Motors reported it sold 710,347 vehicles in the quarter, an 8% increase year over year. Stellantis has not reported third quarter results yet.
Lincoln’s travails
Edmunds.com’s Director of Insights Ivan Drury said Ford’s attempt at offering free money with its “Zero, Zero, Zero” program came at a high cost in the quarter with only 7% of Ford’s finance dealers at 0% and the average monthly payment was $1,048.
Ford launched that program in July to transition from its employee pricing for all campaign earlier in the year. The Zero, Zero, Zero sale featured zero down payment, zero percent interest for 48 months, and zero payments for the first 90 days on most Ford and Lincoln vehicles.
“Despite the program being more marketing versus reality, Ford did post an impressive 8% growth overall and further cut down their 2024 model year inventory with a little over one in 10 sales derived from 2024 model year inventory,” Drury said.
While Ford had many successes in the quarter, Lincoln’s sales was not one of them. Through September, the brand is up, but not by much. Ford has sold 78,823 Lincoln vehicles this year compared with 74,530 in the same period in 2024.
The volume is smaller than Ford brand vehicles, but the profit margins should be higher, which analysts find troubling.
“There doesn’t seem to be as much of management’s attention on Lincoln as there was during (Jim) Hackett’s time (as CEO),” Morningstar autos analyst David Whiston told the Detroit Free Press.
Hackett was CEO Jim Farley’s predecessor. Farley took over as CEO on Oct. 1, 2020, marking five years at the helm. He sat down with the Detroit Free Press to reflect on the past five years and discuss what he has learned and where the company needs to go.
Whiston said he wishes Ford would do more with Lincoln because the automaker has shown some “awesome interiors in recent years” and its newest product, Navigator, is doing really well. Indeed, the Navigator is the only vehicle in Lincoln’s small lineup to see sales gains in the quarter. Ford sold 4,957 Navigators, a 10.5% boost compared with the year-ago quarter. Through September, sales of the Navigator are up 48.4% to 16,370 units sold.
But sales of the Corsair, Nautilus and Aviator are all down 2.6%, 12.4% and 20.8% respectively in the quarter.
“There’s more profit margin in Lincoln in theory than the Blue Oval brand, given it’s supposed to be premium,” Whiston said. “Aviator has not gotten the updated interior Navigator got yet, which isn’t helping its cause, and Nautilus may have some consumers scared off it due to it’s only made in China. I haven’t heard of Nautilus tariffs being passed through yet.”
Ford spokesman Said Deep said Ford is still building the Nautilus in China and importing it to the United States. He did not clarify what impact tariffs are having on the vehicle’s pricing.
Whiston said in the quarter it is possible Navigator “cannibalized some sales of other Lincoln models.” Also, as the Detroit Free Press reported in August, both the Corsair and Ford Escape will end production this year, with sales of the SUVs ending next year.
Ford’s powertrain advantage
Cox Automotive executive analyst Erin Keating said Ford’s overall positive results reflect its wide range of product offerings and powertrains.
“Ford’s performance underscores its ability to grow in a mixed market given its strength in pickups, hybrids, and electrified offerings,” Keating told the Detroit Free Press. “As we have expected across the industry, Ford’s electrified vehicle mix hit a record 15.7%, with Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning both posting best-ever quarters.”
In the quarter, Ford reported a surge in its sales of all-electric vehicles most likely helped out by consumers rushing to beat the end of the federal tax credit. Congress passed a bill ending the credit that would allow car buyers to save up to $7,500 on the purchase of a qualifying new EV and $4,000 on the purchase of a qualifying used EV by Sept. 30. But Ford and General Motors have since said they will extend some incentive programs through leases until year-end to transition away from the government support.
“An EV sales increase is no surprise as consumers pulled ahead sales to take advantage of the tax credit ending, but the surprise of Ford finding a creative way to extend the credit beyond the deadline will certainly be welcome as the end of September didn’t result in Ford dealers running out of inventory, 5% of their inventory are still EVs,” Drury said.
Ford’s wins and losses
For the quarter, Ford’s EV sales shot up 30.2% to 30,612 vehicles sold. Those sales were led by the Mustang Mach-E, which sold 20,177 units, a 51% gain. Sales of the F-150 Lightning sold 10,005, a 40% increase. Ford’s other electric vehicle, the commercial van Transit, only sold 430 units, an 85% plunge from a year-ago.
Sales of Ford’s hybrid powertrain vehicles rose nearly 15% to 55,177 units sold.
But gasoline-powered vehicles still dominated sales with 459,733 sold, a 6.3% gain compared with the year-ago period. The Maverick small pickup sales rose 9% to 34,848 units sold.
“Interestingly, nearly 60% of Maverick buyers are new to Ford, showing that they are strong in conquest potential,” Keating said.
She noted that Ford’s pricing remained strong. The average transaction price for Ford vehicles in August was $56,109, up from $55,332 in August 2024. Keating said she does not have September data in yet.
But Edmunds’ Drury crunched data for the full quarter and showed Ford’s average transaction price for Ford and Lincoln combined held at $54,529, up from $53,590 in the year-ago quarter.
Ford’s other big winners: Explorer with sales up 33% to 56,000 units; F-Series pickups with sales of 207,732, a 5% gain, the Bronco had gains of 41% to 37,858 units sold and the E-Series van with sales of 10,731 a 17% boost.
Ford’s Transit commercial van hit 42,503 sales, a gain of 32.3% and the nameplate’s second-best third quarter ever.
The struggling vehicles in the quarter included the Bronco Sport small SUV, made in Mexico, which sold 30,823, a decline of 11% compared with the year-ago quarter. Also, the Escape saw a near 11% drop to 32,139 sales in the quarter. Sales of the Ranger pickup dipped 1.3% to 15,301 units sold.
Looking ahead
Ford said its recently revealed Explorer Tremor and F-150 Lobo street truck will begin shipping in the fourth quarter. The Explorer Tremor offers a 400-horsepower EcoBoost engine and added off-road capability. The F-150 Lobo offers a lowered stance, 5.0-liter V8 and street-performance handling.
Ford said it is growing its U.S. Mobile Service fleet. In the third quarter it grew to more than 4,200 units, a 12% year-over-year gain. That means in the quarter, Ford’s dealers completed over 950,000 remote service experiences, bringing the 2025 total to about 2.8 million remote services, which the automaker said offers its owners more convenience.
Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ford reports Q3 sales gain of 8.2%, Lincoln down
Reporting by Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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