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In the second quarter of 2021, pigs flew, the unfortunate souls in the underworld were issued mittens to help them cope with the sudden freeze, and the Ford F-150 was not America’s best-selling vehicle.
The Sales King Since Disco Reigned
Ford’s venerable F-Series truck has been America’s best-selling vehicle for an astonishing 43 years in a row. A redesign for the 2021 model year is a critical success and our Best Buy in the full-size truck category.
But its sales crown is threatened for the first time since the Carter administration, not by new and improved rivals, but by a worldwide shortage of microchips that has forced Ford to slow production of its most successful vehicle.
In Third Place Now
In Q2, Ford sold 158,235 F-Series trucks. Ram sold 164,232 full-size Ram 1500s. Chevrolet sold 161,706 Silverados.
Ford has thousands of otherwise-complete F-150 trucks parked outside factories waiting for the microchips needed to finish them. Dealers have no trouble finding buyers interested in buying them. But the trucks aren’t shipping.
Meanwhile, GM has kept production of its full-size trucks going by stripping less-popular features from the trucks in order to build them with fewer chips.
It May Regain Title Soon
Let’s be clear: The F-150 retained its sales crown through the first six months of 2021. It’s only when we isolate the second quarter that we see it slip. It may regain the headgear in the third quarter. The Detroit Free Press recently reported that Ford has found a source for some badly needed microchips and will be able to ship some of those nearly completed trucks soon.
Erich Merkle, a U.S. sales analyst at Ford, told the publication, “We’ll see our inventories improve. It’ll take time, but stock will gradually start to improve the second half of the year.”
Ford also recently unveiled an electric version of the truck, the F-150 Lightning, which should help boost sales. The company accepted more than 100,000 reservations for the Lightning. But reservations do not count as sales until they are delivered to customers — likely to happen next year.
So, for the moment, there are pigs on the wing above you and Ram dealers are toasting the cold weather in hell.
