Louisville SUV, Escape propels Ford growth
This article was originally posted in Louisville’s Business First:
Ford Motor Co. reported Wednesday that U.S. sales for January totaled 136,710 vehicles, up 7 percent from a year earlier.
Among models, the Focus contributed to 30 percent of Ford’s sales growth for the month, more than any other vehicle in the Ford product lineup, according to a news release. Focus sales were 14,400, up 60 percent from January 2011.
“January started off with solid sales versus year-ago levels,” Ken Czubay, a Ford vice president, said in the news release. “Ford saw the same solid month, with smaller vehicles in higher demand. Escape continued its record-setting run, and Focus set the pace for car sales in California, Texas and the Southeast.”
The combined sales of Focus and the Escape SUV provided 49 percent of Ford’s volume growth in January. With 17,259 Escape vehicles sold, it was another best-ever January for Escape, topping January 2011 by 24 percent. Ford will build the next-generation Escape at its Louisville Car and Truck Assembly Plant, following a $600 million investment in plant improvements.
Meanwhile, sales of F-Series trucks, which include the Super Duty models built at Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, were up 7.5 percent in December, with sales of 38,493.
Last week, the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker (NYSE: F) reported net income of $13.62 billion for the fourth quarter of 2011, on revenue of $34.6 billion.