Ford Motor Company total U.S. sales of 211,126 vehicles last month declined 1 percent from a year ago. Retail sales of 141,950 vehicles are off 1 percent compared with a year ago. Commercial and government fleet sales were up 16 and 21 percent, respectively, while daily rental sales declined 24 percent. Ford Sales Analyst, Erich Merkle explains.

“Sales, for the most part, year-over-year, were pretty flat, it was down slightly, but in terms of our daily rental, that has pulled back, so we’ve pulled that back about 24 percent compared to year ago, so it does place a little bit of pressure on your sales.”

According to Merkle the 1 percent dip over all, does not concern him because it is part of a much bigger picture.

“Because we’re launching so many new products, it’s been part of our plan to pull back on the amount of vehicles that move through daily rental, and that’s quite frankly going to be with us throughout the year, but the lower daily rental fleet sales, are certainly going to be softer this year than last year.”

On the brighter side, F-Series continues to sell well, having their best April since 2006.

“It was up 7 percent and what’s fascinating about that is that we’ve been with, really, the lowest incentive spend of the three top full-size pickup truck brands out there in the marketplace and with very strong, average transaction prices.”

Explorer had its best April sales performance since 2005 with 16,629 vehicles sold, an increase of 17 percent, as America’s best-selling midsize utility.

“That’s a product that just keeps moving higher and higher. We’re making all that we can in Chicago, so our capacity is somewhat limited, but that product sells very well for us and continues to do so.”

According to Merkle the second quarter guidance calls for 810,000 vehicles.

“We’re very pleased with the strength of our production and the record number of new products that we have coming out this year, which are going to help us as we get more and more of them out into the marketplace.”