--- title: "Ford's U.S. Sales Fall 10.3% as Truck Snags and EV Retreat Bite" description: "Ford's U.S. vehicle sales fell 10.3% in the second quarter to 549,200, hurt by a pullback in rental-fleet sales, discontinued models and a production shortfall in its profitable F-Series pickups. The soft quarter stood in sharp contrast to a 25% jump at Tesla." category: "Markets" category_url: https://boursel.com/category/markets author: "Daniel Okonkwo" published: 2026-07-02T13:45:00.000Z updated: 2026-07-02T13:45:00.000Z canonical: https://boursel.com/article/ford-s-u-s-sales-fall-10-3-as-truck-snags-and-ev-retreat-bite tags: ["ford", "auto-sales", "f-series", "electric-vehicles", "tesla"] --- # Ford's U.S. Sales Fall 10.3% as Truck Snags and EV Retreat Bite Ford's U.S. vehicle sales fell 10.3% in the second quarter to 549,200, hurt by a pullback in rental-fleet sales, discontinued models and a production shortfall in its profitable F-Series pickups. The soft quarter stood in sharp contrast to a 25% jump at Tesla. The two faces of the U.S. auto market showed up on the same morning: a soft quarter for Ford, and a strong one for Tesla. Ford said its U.S. sales **fell 10.3% in the second quarter to 549,200 vehicles**, down from 612,095 a year earlier, [as reported by Seeking Alpha](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4609651-ford-q2-sales-down-103-to-549200) and [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/02/ford-q2-sales.html). The decline was one of the steeper ones expected in the industry for the quarter, though it slightly beat forecaster Cox Automotive's projection for an 11.5% drop. ## What dragged the quarter down The headline fall had several moving parts, and not all of them signal weak consumer demand. Ford attributed much of the drop to **discontinued models** working their way out of its lineup and to a **69% plunge in daily-rental sales** — a deliberate pullback from low-margin fleet business rather than lost showroom customers. On top of that came a genuine supply problem: sales of Ford's **F-Series** pickups were held back by a **retiming of production** after fires at an aluminum supplier, Novelis, disrupted output late last year. The F-Series is America's best-selling truck line and one of Ford's biggest profit sources, so even a temporary build shortfall shows up clearly in the totals. Ford said it expects supply "to recover more fully in the second half of the year." ## The EV pullback The other soft spot was electric vehicles. Ford's battery-electric sales — the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit van — **fell about 41%** from a year earlier, [per CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/02/ford-q2-sales.html), extending a slump that has run all year as U.S. demand for pure EVs cools and federal tax incentives for buyers are set to wind down. Ford is not alone: rival **General Motors** reported a **4.2% decline** in second-quarter U.S. sales, also citing weaker EV demand, [CNBC reported](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/01/q2-auto-sales-gm-stellantis-toyota-hyundai.html). ## A bright spot in hybrids The quarter was not all red. Ford's **Maverick**, a small pickup and America's best-selling hybrid truck, set a quarterly record with **29,457 sold, up about 19%** — a sign that buyers cooling on all-electric models are shifting toward gas-electric hybrids instead. That pattern, EVs down and hybrids up, has been one of the defining consumer trends of the U.S. car market this year. (A **hybrid** pairs a gasoline engine with an electric motor and battery, so it needs no plug or charging network — a middle step many buyers prefer to a full EV.) ## The split screen with Tesla The timing sharpened the contrast. The same day, **Tesla** reported delivering **480,126 vehicles** globally in the quarter, up roughly 25% and ahead of expectations. The divergence captures how unevenly the electric transition is playing out: demand is holding up for a narrow set of popular EVs while broader, legacy EV lineups struggle. On overall volume Ford remains far bigger in the U.S. — it sold more than a million vehicles in the first half — but its growth has stalled where Tesla's has, for now, reaccelerated. ## Why it matters For **Ford**, the quarter is a reminder of how exposed its results are to a single product line: when F-Series output stumbles, the whole company feels it. For **investors and the industry**, the split with Tesla and the 41% EV drop underscore that the U.S. market is rewarding trucks, SUVs and hybrids while punishing pure-electric bets that depend on incentives. And for **buyers**, the shift toward hybrids like the Maverick shows where mainstream demand is actually heading. Boursel gives no investment advice; the takeaway is that Ford's decline was driven as much by fleet cuts, phased-out models and a truck-supply snag as by any collapse in underlying demand — but the sharp EV retreat is a real and continuing headwind. ## Sources - [Ford Q2 U.S. sales fall 10.3% on truck production issues, EV demand drop](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/02/ford-q2-sales.html) - [Ford Q2 sales down 10.3% to 549,200](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4609651-ford-q2-sales-down-103-to-549200) - [Q2 auto sales: GM, Stellantis, Toyota, Hyundai](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/01/q2-auto-sales-gm-stellantis-toyota-hyundai.html)