Ford quarterly sales fall on the downturn in passenger cars demand

Ford Motor on Monday reported a 1.3% decline in fourth-quarter vehicle sales as soft demand for passenger cars exceeded higher sales of pick-up trucks.

Ford’s figures rounded off U.S. automakers’ sales for last year, with passenger cars dropping out of favor with buyers amid lower oil prices and as automakers concentrated on SUVs and pick-ups that are more profitable.

Total U.S. light-vehicle sales dropped by about 1% from 2018, but still completed above 17 million vehicles for the fifth consecutive year.

Discounts for the key holiday season and lower interest rates played a significant role in pushed sales of Ford’s trucks to 330,075 in the quarter, up from 284,859 trucks a year previously.

However, passenger car sales at the company dropped 41% to 63,400 cars. The automaker stated it sold 601,862 vehicles in the quarter, compared with 609,693 vehicles a year previously.

Shares of the company dropped as much as 1.6%, while shares of No.1 U.S. automaker General Motors dropped 1.4%.

Ford sold 896,526 full-size pickup trucks in the last year, outselling competing General Motors, which sold 802,962 pickups during the year.

Other automakers reported their quarterly sales figures on Friday.

General Motors, which was impacted by a month-long strike by its 48,000 hourly employees, reported a 6.3% decline in sales for the fourth quarter.