Ford Maverick pickup breaks own monthly sales record as automaker continues hybrid run
Ford CEO Jim Farley predicted last year that hybrid vehicles would play a key role in driving sales, and the latest consumer data shows his instincts were spot on.
"Hybrids are killing it," Michelle Krebs, executive analyst at Cox Automotive, told the Detroit Free Press on Monday. "They're just tearing it up."
The Ford Maverick compact pickup continues to appeal to small SUV buyers, because of its small size and small (in these times) price tag, which starts around $24,000 not including fees and taxes. Ford says the rate of stealing customers from other brands, a carefully tracked data point called a "conquest rate," is 59%.
"There's nothing in the market quite like it," said Erich Merkle, Ford U.S. sales analyst.
A snapshot of Ford data for hybrid sales in February showed the automaker's strategy was effective:
Maverick hybrid carried Ford to a U.S. hybrid sales February record for the automaker of 12,045, up nearly 32% compared with the same month a year ago. That overall total includes 3,325 F-150 hybrids.
Customers bought 6,463 Ford Maverick hybrid pickups last month, breaking the record of 6,230 for the vehicle set in October.
The Ford Escape hybrid sales hit 1,218, up 35% from January.
"Hybrid vehicles continue to be a growth segment for Ford and sales have grown at a faster rate than the overall U.S. industry," Merkle said. "That’s before the new 2024 F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid goes on sale early this year."
Already, about one in five retail orders for the 2024 F-150 are for the hybrid version, he said.
Ford plans to double the number of hybrid trucks manufactured for the 2024 model year, the automaker said. Lincoln delivered the first Nautilus hybrid SUVs to customers in February.
Toyota is seeing a spike in its hybrid sales, too, Krebs said. "Now, 37% of its new sales are electrified."
Ford and Toyota are dominating the hybrid market as consumers warm to the idea of trading their internal combustion engine vehicle for all-electric or hybrid. General Motors CEO Mary Barra told investors in January her company is working to get back into the hybrid market currently being dominated by competitors.
Overall, Ford sold 13,262 hybrid and traditional gas-powered Mavericks combined in February. Ford increased factory production capacity at the plant in Mexico last year to try to meet demand, which continues to outpace supply, Krebs noted.
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February sales at Ford are up 10.5% to 174,192 vehicles from the same period a year ago:
Hybrid sales up 31.5% on total sales of 12,045 vehicles.
EV sales up 80.1% on total sales of 6,368 vehicles.
Michigan dealer: Customer orders continue flowing in
"Hybrids have always been good for us," Chad Wilson, general manager of Wilson Ford in Saginaw and Midland Ford, said Monday. "A lot of the benefits you see from a fully electric vehicle you can also realize in a hybrid without the risk of being stranded and unable to charge somewhere. In many cases, it offers the best-of-both-words scenario. The interest is certainly growing. Maverick hybrids are still a little bit scarce, because that's the one that's the most in demand."
Customer orders are pending for Maverick hybrids now, he said. "And the plug-in Escape, Lincoln Corsair and Lincoln Aviator, I feel like people don't realize those are available as hybrids. But the people who have them, love them."
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Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on X at @phoebesaid
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ford Maverick breaks own monthly sales record as hybrids spike
