July 6 (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co (F.N) on Thursday followed rivals in reporting a rise in second-quarter U.S. auto sales, driven by easing supply chain snags and pent-up demand for personal transportation.
The U.S. automaker’s quarterly sales rose about 10% to 531,662 vehicles, the company said.
Automakers are rushing to make up for the lost production during the pandemic, as a strong jobs market props up demand for new vehicles despite inflation hurting consumers’ pockets elsewhere.
Industry-wide U.S. new vehicle sales in June were 1.37 million units, with an annual sales rate of about 15.7 million, according to data released by Wards Intelligence on Wednesday.
Ford’s quarter was powered by a 26% jump in truck sales, one of the company’s main profit drivers. Sales of the electric version of the company’s popular F-150 truck more than doubled to 4,466 vehicles from last year.
However, Ford’s overall EV sales fell 2.8% to 14,843 vehicles amid lingering supply snags.
In May, Ford temporarily halted its factory work at three plants where it makes both gasoline and electric versions of the F-150 pickup truck, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The upbeat sales figures come amid a drive by the automaker to cut costs. The company last month said it would begin layoffs impacting mostly engineering jobs in the United States and Canada.
On Wednesday, Japan-based Toyota’s (7203.T) North America unit reported a 7.13% rise in U.S. sales to 568,962 units, compared with Detroit’s GM’s (GM.N) 19% jump to 691,978 units for the quarter-ended June.
