Ford sold fewer cars and trucks last quarter. Yet its piece of the U.S. market got a little bigger. The company's actual decline was slightly smaller than what analysts had expected.
Ford reported total U.S. sales of 549,200 vehicles for the three months ending June 2026, a 10.3% drop from the same period a year earlier. For the first half of the year, the automaker sold roughly 1 million vehicles, down 9.6% from 1.1 million during the first half of last year. Despite falling volume, Ford's estimated retail market share in the U.S. rose to 12.3% at the end of Q2, up 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier.
That small gain came even as independent forecaster Cox Automotive had predicted a larger 11.5% decline for the quarter.
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Two main reasons pushed Ford's sales lower. First, the company's top aluminum supplier suffered two fires late last year, which disrupted production of the F-Series pickup trucks. Sales of the F-Series, including the F-150, fell 11% during the quarter. Ford said in a press release, "Although customer demand remains high, first-half F-Series sales reflect a retiming of commercial production following last year's aluminum supply shortages." The company anticipates that aluminum availability will improve significantly later this year.
Second, consumer demand for all-electric cars and trucks dropped sharply. Ford's all-electric vehicle sales in the second quarter of 2026 fell 40.7% compared to the prior year's quarter. That decline hit like a one-two punch - first the aluminum shortage, then the EV slowdown.
Ford's Q2 performance highlights a turbulent period for the automaker, yet its slight market-share gain suggests it fared better than some rivals amid widespread headwinds. The aluminum fires created a production bottleneck for the highly profitable F-Series, while the broader EV sector has cooled as higher interest rates and charging concerns temper consumer enthusiasm. Ford continues to invest in its electric-vehicle lineup, but near-term demand remains under pressure.
This small increase indicates that while Ford sold fewer vehicles, its competitors may have suffered even larger losses. The company's ability to maintain share during a period of supply constraints suggests underlying brand strength.
In the latter half of 2026, Ford predicts a fuller restoration of supply, which should enable F-Series output to return to normal levels. The company also pointed out that the F-Series remained the best-selling truck in the United States despite the quarterly drop.
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