We were perusing a Ford Motor Company sales report that provided some genuinely tangible evidence that we are indeed emerging from a very bad period in our history that everyone’s eager to leave in the blowing dirt. It’s probably not a surprise that overall Ford sales have boomed by nearly 27 percent in June over the same month last year. Electric vehicles are a significant reason why. For instance, the newly introduced Mustang Mach-E has already rung up 12,975 confirmed sales, and the new hybrid version of the all-conquering F-150 accounts for 17,000-plus sales on its own. Retail orders for Ford and Lincoln vehicles of all kinds are ahead 16 percent over 2020 totals, another very positive sign. One factoid, however, nearly caused us to inadvertently click out of the document in surprise.
An incremental element of Ford’s current good news, actually, is Lincoln, whose SUV offerings, led by the new Corsair and redone-for-2020 Aviator, posted an all-time sales record for the first six months of 2021, with a remarkable YTD total of 46,018 SUVS. The Corsair led the way with 13,507 sales, pushing overall Lincoln traffic ahead by 23.3 percent over 2020’s first-half numbers. We can learn two things from these facts: The thematic changes to its image by Ford have done well for Lincoln, and high-luxury SUVs are still decisive winners in the marketplace.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 