Auto maker Ford Motor Co. (F: Quote) reported Tuesday that U.S. vehicles sales for the month of June increased 7 percent from last year, boosted by strong sales of its sport utility vehicles.
In particular, Ford Escape enjoyed its best-ever monthly sales. With gas prices easing, sales of the Escape increased 28 percent to 28,500 vehicles last month.
Among the other utility vehicles, Ford Explorer sales jumped 34.5 percent and Ford Flex also saw a similar increase in monthly sales. Further, Ford Expedition sales grew 9.4 percent and Ford Edge sales were up 6.2 percent in June.
"June was a good month for Ford and a particularly strong month for vehicles like Escape, Fusion, Explorer and F-Series. The new 2013 Escape also is off to a very strong start, with vehicles selling on dealer lots in less than five days - even topping the strong start of the new Explorer in 2010," said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service.
Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford, the second largest U.S. automaker, said it sold 207,759 vehicles in the U.S. in June, up 7 percent from 194,114 vehicles sold in the same month last year. For May, Ford had reported a 12.6 percent increase in U.S. vehicles sales.
Earlier in the day, General Motors Co. (GM: Quote), the largest U.S. automaker, also reported a 15.5 percent increase in U.S. vehicle sales to 248,750 units from 215,358 units in the prior year month. Chrysler Group LLC, which is majority owned by Italy-based Fiat SpA (FIATY.PK), reported total U.S. sales of 144,811 units, up 20 percent from 120,394 units in sold in June 2011.
Ford vehicle sales increased across the company's lineup, with car sales edging up 0.3 percent year-over-year to 73,348 units in June, and truck sales growing 1.2 percent to 71,290 units from last year. Utility vehicle sales also rose 24.8 percent to 63,121 units from a year ago.
Sales of Ford brand vehicles increased 7.2 percent to 200,215 units, and sales of Lincoln brand vehicles grew 2.5 percent to 7,544 units from last year.
June sales of Ford's small car Focus edged down 0.9 percent to 21,186 vehicles. Sales of another fuel-efficient small car Fusion increased 17.4 percent to 24,433 vehicles, its best ever June sales. Mustang sales increased 16.2 percent to 10,263 units from last year.
Sales of Ford's F-Series pick-up truck, America's best-selling truck for 35 years in a row and America's best-selling vehicle, car or truck, for 30 straight years, grew 10.9 percent to 55,025 units in June. This was the best June sales performance in five years.
For the year-to-date six-month period, U.S. vehicles sales increased 6.6 percent to 1.14 million units from 1.07 million units in the same period last year.
In Tuesday's regular trading session, F is currently trading at $9.70, up $0.31 or 3.27% on a volume of 21.12 million shares. In the past 52-week period, the stock has been trading in a range of $9.05 to $14.22.
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by RTT Staff Writer
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