Ford Motor’s new vehicles sales in the US last month dropped by 33.1% from a year ago as the ongoing global shortage of semiconductor chips continues, the automaker said Thursday.
The sales of the automaker capped off a dismal month of U.S. auto sales in August, which declined to an adjusted selling rate of 13.09 million vehicles. That’s the worst pace since June 2020 and down from this year’s peak of 18.5 million in April.
Ford’s overall sales last month topped 124,176 vehicles. Truck sales dropped by almost 30%, while SUVs were off by 25.3% and car sales dropped by 86% from August 2020.
The chip shortage, which has hit automakers worldwide, emerges from a confluence of factors as automakers, which closed plants for two months during the coronavirus pandemic last year, rival against the sprawling consumer electronics industry for chip supplies. A factory fire suffered by Japanese chipmaker Renesas this year is also cited as a reason behind the chip shortage.
