December Ford sales down 32.4 percent

The continued economic slowdown drove Ford Motor Co.'s December sales downward 32.4 percent.

Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford Motor Co. said it sold 139,067 units in the United States in December, down from 205,685 a year earlier.

Sales of the Ford Explorer declined 50.9 percent, to 5,346 units, from 10,887 units. Sales of the Mercury Mountaineer, manufactured at the same site, declined 67 percent, to 634 units from 1,921 units in December 2007.
Despite lower fuel prices during the month, sales of F-Series pickup trucks dipped 24.5 percent, to 41,580 units, from 55,069 units a year earlier.

Ford does not separate Super Duty sales figures from overall F-Series sales figures, which also include the F-150 light truck.

Sales of the Ford Expedition SUV declined 49 percent, to 3,833 units from 7,516 units a year earlier. Sales of the Lincoln Navigator, which also will begin production there later this year, declined 52.1 percent, to 1,097 units, from 2,291 units in December 2001.

For the full year, Explorer sales fell 43.1 percent, to 78,439 units, from 137,817 units in 2007. Mountaineer sales declined 55.6 percent, to 10,596 units from 23,850 units.

F-Series sales declined 25.4 percent to 515,513 units in 2008, from 690,589 units a year ago.

Expedition units in 2008 declined 38.9 percent, to 55,123 units from 90,287 units, and Navigator units dropped 38.3 percent, to 14,836 units from 24,050 units in 2007.

The only Ford model to post a sales gain in 2008, was the Ford Focus compact car. Ford sold 195,823 units, up 13.1 percent from 2007, when it sold 173,213 units.

There are six dealerships in the Albuquerque metro region that sell new Ford models. They are: Don Chalmers Ford in Rio Rancho, Rich Ford Sales Inc., Corley Albuquerque Lincoln-Mercury, and Bob Turner's Ford Country in Albuquerque, Rich Ford in Edgewood and Brad Francis Ford in Los Lunas.

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