2 Trends to Watch Following Ford & Honda’s September Sales

October 17, 2021

The companies' latest reports mirror each other in some important ways.

Image source: Getty Images.

Key Points

  • The chip shortage is holding the companies back, but Ford at least seems to be building production and inventory.
  • Popular vehicles include SUVs and pickup trucks in the automakers’ model lineups.
  • Ford and Honda have seen growing interest in their respective EV offerings, whether as actual sales or reservations for upcoming models.
Major automakers Ford and Honda both reported their September sales data on the same day, Monday, Oct. 4, and both showed startlingly similar trends. Both naturally showed a big negative effect from the ongoing chip shortage on sales. However, both also highlighted strong demand for a specific type of vehicle, and similar results for their electric vehicle (EV) segments, giving a snapshot of how the passenger vehicle market is developing overall. Here’s what they reported and what it means for their future.

What Ford reported

With manufacturing slowed to a crawl by chip shortages and inventories hollowed out by high demand, Ford’s total sales dropped 17.7% year over year for September. Narrowing the focus to retail sales, the plunge from September 2020 was 20.8%. The drop was strongest among cars, which saw sales drop 80.3% to just 2,800 individual vehicles sold.

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