Ford EV Growth Outpaces Gas Vehicles in September, Led by Mustang Mach-E

September was another good month for Ford EV sales, though its wider Ford and Lincoln portfolio saw a year-over-year dip, the automaker revealed this week.

Monthly sales data (PDF(Opens in a new window)) tips triple-digit, year-over-year growth in Ford electric vehicle sales (197.3%) but negative growth for other Ford and Lincoln cars, which were down a combined 8.9% in September 2022 compared to September 2021.

Ford currently sells a few hybrids, the E-Transit work van, and two fully battery-powered vehicles: the F-150 Lightning pickup truck and the Mustang Mach-E. Together, they sold 4,242 units, and while that’s just 3% of the 135,978 Ford-brand units sold, they are selling the fastest.

“[The] Lightning remains one of Ford’s fastest-turning vehicles on dealer lots, turning in just 8 days,” Ford says. “Mustang Mach-E sales increased 47.3% over last year, while turning in just 10 days on dealer lots.”

The F-150 Lightning boasts a large ‘frunk,’ or a front trunk where the gas-powered engine used to sit.
(Credit: Ford)

These two models alone helped raise Ford’s share of the EV market from 4% last year to 7% this September. The Dearborn-based automaker claims to be “America’s number two EV brand.” Number one is—you guessed it—Tesla.

Tesla currently has 70% of the US market, Bloomberg reports(Opens in a new window), though that’s expected to decline rapidly by 2025 as 135 new electric models from other brands launch. Until then, Tesla just reported a 42% year-over-year sales growth across its all-electric lineup in Q3, The New York Times reported(Opens in a new window) earlier this week, shipping 343,830 vehicles worldwide over three months.

Ford releases monthly instead of quarterly sales reports. In July(Opens in a new window), its EV sales were at 7,669, led by the Mach-E. In August(Opens in a new window), they dipped slightly to 5,897, though that was a 307% year-over-year jump. So overall, it sold around 13,500 EVs in Q3.

General Motors, which released Q3 sales numbers for its all-electric Chevy Bolt and Bolt EUV models this week as well, sold 14,709 vehicles during the quarter.

In March, Ford restructured(Opens in a new window) into three “distinct businesses”: an electric vehicle division, called Ford Model E; a gas-powered division, called Ford Blue; and a commercial vehicles division called Ford Pro. The move is part of Ford’s goal to “accelerate the development and scaling of breakthrough electric, connected vehicles” while driving profitability and stability in the Ford Blue and Ford Pro businesses.

There were some bright spots for Ford in the gas-powered businesses in September. The F-Series of pickup trucks remained “America’s best-selling truck,” with 467,307 units driven off lots this year. (The electric F-150 Lightning is America’s best-selling electric pickup truck, Ford says.)

The gas-powered Ford Bronco SUV is a rugged, 2021 reboot of the well-known brand.
(Credit: Ford)

The Bronco SUV line, meanwhile, saw a 220% increase in year-over-year sales. “Bronco has really been a primary driver behind Ford SUV growth this year, with overall Ford SUV sales up 11.1%,” Ford said. Almost all of the Bronco SUV sales, 99%, came from previously placed orders. Ford, like many other car companies, has spent most of the year battling supply chain issues that make it difficult to gets cars into people’s driveways.

Ford plans to increase its production capacity in the coming years, specifically on EVs, with a goal to manufacture 600,000 vehicles by the end of 2023 and then 2 million by 2026, Electrek reports(Opens in a new window). The September sales report says orders for 2023 models are up 244% over 2022 models, with 197,000 orders already logged across its portfolio (not only for EVs).

Ford September 2022 YOY sales numbers, broken out by brand and model.
(Credit: Ford)