Ford's Q3 Sales Fell 6.6%, but Bronco and the Maverick Hybrid Just Had Record Quarters
Nearly all of the drop came from the outgoing Escape and Corsair. Bronco Filson and RTR orders open later in October, and an F-150 supplier hiccup hit September output.
Ford sold 509,764 vehicles in the US in the third quarter, down 6.6% from a year earlier, and nearly all of that drop comes from two models it is phasing out. The Escape and Lincoln Corsair sold 5,127 units combined, down from 38,849, which covers 33,722 of the 35,758 sales Ford lost, according to Ford's third-quarter sales report. Take both out, and Ford's volume slipped 0.4%, by our math, against an industry Ford estimates fell about 1%.
Ford calls that result essentially unchanged, and it estimates that, adjusted for the two departing models, its retail share rose about 0.4 percentage point to 12.1%. Its report was the missing piece in our look at what Q3 sales mean for car buyers. It still ranks behind GM (670,974) and Toyota Motor North America (633,223).
It also finished 26,209 sales ahead of Hyundai and Kia combined (483,555). Cox Automotive had forecast that Hyundai Motor Group would pass Ford this quarter; that now hinges on Genesis, whose quarterly total we haven't confirmed.
F-Series dipped, then picked up in September
F-Series sales fell 1.9% in the quarter to 203,707, but September rose 2.4% to 67,448. Through nine months, Ford's 561,508 F-Series trucks put it more than 140,000 ahead of the Chevrolet Silverado, by Ford's count. GM, meanwhile, says its light-duty full-size pickups grew 9% in its third quarter, with a new Silverado due before the end of the year. If you're cross-shopping, here's how the F-150 and Silverado 1500 compare on price.
Production tells a bigger story. Ford built 266,777 F-Series trucks in the quarter, up 4.5%, including 110,275 Super Duty pickups, Super Duty's best production quarter in 19 years. At the end of September, though, F-150 output was hit by what Ford calls a "short-term supplier issue unrelated to aluminum." Ford hasn't named the supplier or the part, or said how many trucks it lost.
Its production table shows 42,846 F-150s built in September, down from 57,504 in August, but not how much of that gap the supplier problem caused. Ford expects the cost to fit within the $10 billion to $11 billion adjusted EBIT guidance it gave on July 28. For buyers, the cushion is stock: Ford had 215,400 F-Series trucks on hand at the end of September, about three months of sales at September's pace, by our math.
Bronco and Maverick Hybrid set records
The Bronco sold 38,020 units in the quarter and 114,956 through September, both records, though the quarterly one beat last year by just 162. The more useful news for shoppers is timing. Ford says it will start taking orders for the Bronco Filson and Bronco RTR "later in October," a firmer pointer than the "fall 2026" it gave before. There's still no exact date or pricing; the figures in circulation are targets and estimates, not MSRPs, as laid out in our 2027 Bronco guide. Dealers had 36,200 Broncos in stock at the end of September.
The Maverick Hybrid sold a record 27,793 trucks, up 59.6%, and 74,300 through September. Total Maverick sales rose 20.4% to 41,970, so about two of every three Mavericks sold were hybrids, up from roughly half a year earlier, by our math. Supply is tighter here: 21,700 Mavericks in stock is about a month and a half of sales at the third-quarter pace. Ford's hybrid sales overall still fell 19.7% to 44,308, in a quarter when the Escape, also sold as a hybrid, all but disappeared from the chart.
Elsewhere, Explorer sales rose 11.2% to 62,285. At Lincoln, the Nautilus gained 17.7% and the Aviator 11.3%, but the brand fell 18% as the Corsair ran out ahead of a revived 2027 model due early next year.
EV sales fell 80%
EVs appear only in the sales table: Ford sold 6,047 in the quarter, down 80.2% and about 1% of its total. The Mustang Mach-E fell 72.4% to 5,574, and the E-Transit sold 184. The F-150 Lightning sold 289, down from 10,005. Ford ended production of the current Lightning in 2025 and says the next one will be an extended-range EV, with launch timing still to come.
The comparison is skewed, as it was for GM and Hyundai: the third quarter of 2025 was the last window to claim the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. With 5,000 Mach-Es in stock, Ford has extended its Power Promise through the fourth quarter. Buyers and lessees of a 2026 Mach-E can choose a free home charger with standard installation or $1,500 in bonus cash.
What comes next
F-150 Carhartt Edition orders are open now, and Bronco Filson and RTR orders follow later this month, which should bring prices. Ford hasn't said whether the F-150 supplier problem is resolved; its October sales, due in early November, will show whether it dented deliveries.
