Here is the truth, ignore the main stream media headlines:
Ford brand sales July 2010: 153,603
July 2011: 173,051
Difference = + 19,448 or 12.7 %
Lincoln sales July 2010: 5,586
Lincoln sales July 2011: 7,814
Difference = 2228 or 39.9%
Shockingly, sales would have been even higher but for supply constraints for the new Focus and Fiesta. Ford again commented that they could not keep these cars on the showroom floor. In fact, this model has people waiting around the globe for delivery:
http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf/story2/6699D50115ED0457CA2578DF001901AC
If you can’t even believe what I’m about to write, click on the story. Australia is having trouble getting Focus deliveries because of demand in, gulp, Europe?!
The media misses several facts when it talks about the mythical slowdown:
A. Mercury was discontinued in January of this year
B. Volvo was sold last year
C. New vehicle ramp-ups and Japanese-related parts supply constraints caused inventory shortages relative to demand.
It is not crazy to imagine that Ford could have seen a 20% bump in sales if these issues were factored in. Yet the AP ran with this incorrect headline, the day after Bloomberg stated that U.S. sales stalled:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fords-US-sales-up-6-percent-apf-3571324277.html?x=0&.v=2
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