Dec 4 (Reuters) – Ford Motor (F.N) posted a 0.5% drop in U.S. new vehicle sales for November on Monday, as the automaker worked to restart some of its key plants following a lengthy workers’ strike that impacted vehicle production.
However, sales of Ford’s electric vehicles such as its F-150 Lightning pickup truck and Mustang Mach-E, jumped 43.2% to 8,958 units from a year earlier.
Shares of the automaker were up 1.4% in afternoon trade.
Ford reached a deal with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union in late October, ending an over month-long strike the company said will cost it $1.7 billion.
Sales in October also fell 5.3% for Ford, even though analysts had said the Detroit Three automakers had built up inventory in anticipation of the strike.
Ford said in November all its affected plants had been restarted, a month after Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said restarting the plants would be complicated after the deal, which UAW workers ratified in November.
Sales of Ford trucks slipped 2.8% in November to 78,971 units from a year earlier, while hybrid vehicle sales rose 75.2% to 12,108 units.
The company reported total sales of 145,559 vehicles in the month, compared with 146,364 units.
Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Shinjini Ganguli
