Ford's revenue came down 10% between supply chain problems

November 3, 2022: -Ford Motor’s U.S. sales declined by 10% last month as the automaker battled through supply chain issues that delayed parcels to dealers.

The Detroit automaker reported sales of 158,327 recent vehicles in October, which was off from nearly 176,000 units sold during the same month a year. It was the second-straight month of yearly declines following two months of double-digit surges over subdued sales constrained by semiconductor shortages.

Ford’s October sales were far less than the overall industry. Edmunds reports that overall auto sales increased 9.1% compared to nearly 1.2 million vehicles sold a year earlier.

Ford has recently experienced unique supply chain issues, including sourcing its blue oval badges for profitable pickup trucks and SUVs. The automaker had 40,000 vehicles awaiting parts by to end of the third quarter. It anticipated completing and shipping those vehicles to dealers by the year-end.

Andrew Frick, Ford’s vice president of sales, distribution & trucks, said the automaker “continues to see a good demand for its vehicles” amid increasing interest rates, record inflation, and recessionary fears.

Ford added that the orders for 2023 model-year vehicles totaled 255,000. According to the company, roughly half of those were retail sales from placed orders.

Ford is of a handful of automakers to report recent monthly vehicle sales. Others, such as General Motors and Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, report sales only quarterly.

Ford’s October sales come a week following the company recorded a net loss of $827 million in the third quarter, weighed down by supply chain issues and costs related to disbanding its autonomous vehicle unit Argo AI.

The previous month, the carmaker updated its guidance to forecast full-year adjusted revenue before interest and taxes of $11.5 billion, the lowest end of its forecast earnings. However, it raised its full-year adjusted free cash flow forecast to $9.5 billion and $10 billion, up from $5.5 billion to $6.5 billion on strength in the company’s automotive operations.