Ford F-Sequence 2022 Gross sales Present Pickup continued its decades-long dominance

2023 Ford F-150 RaptorR

ford

DETROIT — The Ford F-Series continued its decades-long dominance of U.S. sales in 2022 despite ongoing parts and supply chain issues, the company said Tuesday.

Ford engine Reported sales of the F-Series, which includes the F-150 pickup and its larger siblings, surpassed 640,000 trucks last year – making it America’s best-selling truck for 46 straight years and the best-selling vehicle for 41 years.

Sales in 2022 mean at least one F-Series truck was sold on average every 49 seconds last year, Ford said.

Despite topping the sales charts, F-Series sales are expected to be lower than in recent years. Sales of the truck through November were down nearly 13% year over year, but Ford said last month’s sales are expected to be the best of 2022 for the F-Series.

Ford sold 726,004 F-Series trucks in 2021, down 7.8% from more than 787,400 vehicles in 2020. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the company had sold about 900,000 trucks annually.

Ford has sought to prioritize F-Series production, including its new electric F-150 Lightning, amid ongoing plant shutdowns due to parts shortages in recent years. The company even partially built vehicles to finish at a later date to keep production going.

There are fears on Wall Street that automakers like Ford’s most profitable days may be over amid higher interest rates, falling used-car prices and a normalization of the sales mix away from full-featured models.

Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan highlighted such challenges — and a renewed emphasis on Ford’s monthly sales reports — in a note to investors Tuesday, citing negative catalysts for the automaker.

Ford will report its total year-end sales on Thursday, a day after other major automakers are expected to release results.

While the F-Series nameplate has topped the sales charts for decades, Ford hasn’t been the top-selling automaker of full-size pickups in recent years. This title has gone on General Motorswhich sells two full-size pickups.

GM sells the higher-priced GMC Sierra alongside the Chevy Silverado. Combined sales of both pickups outpaced Ford and other peers in the third quarter.

GM spokesman Jim Cain downplayed the F-Series rankings, saying the company is well-positioned to capture full-size truck sales leadership for the third straight year.

“We count the trucks the old-fashioned way, one by one, and by that count we’re the clear leader and have been for a while,” he said.