Ford Motor Company’s overall U.S. April 2017 sales declined 7.2 percent compared to a year ago, with 214,695 vehicles sold.  Here to explain is Ford Sales Analyst Erich Merkle.

Cut #1 ”So the overall industry took a bit of a breather in April and our sales were down like the overall industry, so we were down about 7.2 percent, year-over-year, and April generally is, this year anyway,  was pretty difficult to call because you had Easter in there,  you had some spring break happening in the month of April and there was also some tax day noise that occurred within the month.”  :25  sec.

While industry sales had an overall down month, there were some bright spots for Ford and Lincoln during April, as explained by Merkle.

Cut #2 “When we look at F-Series we sold over 70,000 F-Series for the month our total sales for F-Series was 70,657 trucks for the month, so we had a really solid month for F-Series and we’re pleased with the acceptance of things like our Super Duty, and also our F-150 and Raptors that are selling really well out on dealer lots.” :21 sec.

On the passenger car side of the equation, at retail,  Lincoln brand was up 3 percent and topped off 15 consecutive months of year-over-year gains for the Lincoln brand.

Cut #3 “We really saw strong gains for Lincoln on the passenger car side, which was up 43 percent, and that was led by strong retail increases, from MKZ which was up  about 30 percent and of course the all-new Continental which is doing very well on dealer lots with over a thousand sold.” :18 sec.

Merkle says the industry, like the stock market, will have its ups and downs, but in the end has way of balancing itself out,  by years end.

Cut #4 “It’s to be expected with a plateauing industry that you’re going to get some choppiness  some variability from month-to-month.   And that is where we find ourselves today we’re at our point in a cycle where we’re really at a plateau and were going to get this on a monthly basis, we’re going to get this choppiness.” :15 sec.