Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday that its sales tumbled 21 percent in September from a year ago as a sharp dropoff in rental fleet sales offset some positive results from the automaker’s new “crossover” sport utility vehicles.
The number two US automaker said overall sales declined in September to 189,863 units. Sales to daily rental companies were down 62 percent and sales to individual retail customers were down 15 percent.
However, Ford said its Lincoln, Ford and Mercury crossover utility sales were up 96 percent in September and up 52 percent year-to-date.
“We continue to be encouraged by customers’ strong response to our new products, which we’re launching with high quality,” said Mark Fields, president for the Americas.
“Demand for our new crossovers continues to grow and contributes to our efforts to stabilize US retail market share.”
Ford said it got a lift from sales of the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX crossover SUVs, introduced in December 2006, and saw increases in sales of its redesigned compact SUV models of Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner.
Land Rover’s September sales were up 21 percent at 4,190, reflecting the addition of the all-new LR2 crossover.
Ford and the other Detroit automakers have been reducing sales to rental fleets with little or no profit as they struggle to turn around loss-making operations in North America.
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