24/7 Wall St. Insights
- In August, the Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) F-Series line was 38% of its total U.S. sales.
- Ford will not be able to build a car that can outsell the F-Series for years.
- Also: Two dividend legends to hold forever.
If investors need to be reminded of the extent to which Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) relies on gasoline-powered vehicles, and will for years, they only need to look at the portion of Ford’s U.S. sales: F-Series full-sized pickups, many of which are major gas guzzlers. In August, the F-Series line was 38% of total U.S. sales.
The anchor of the F-Series is the F-150. It has been the best-selling vehicle in America since 1981, and its two competitors, the Chevy Silverado and Ram, have never threatened that position.
One reason for the success of the F-Series is that the F-150 comes in eight models. The XL is the least expensive, with a base price of $36,965. The most expensive model, the Raptor, has a base price of $78,440. Ford has an F-150 for every pickup buyer’s price point.
The F-150’s mileage per gallon ranges from 26 in the city to 20 on the highway for the 2.3-L EcoBoost V6 to 10 in the city and 15 on the highway for the 5.2-L Supercharged V8. In either case, the fuel efficiency is poor.
Ford cannot build a car that will outsell the F-Series for years. And that is at the heart of its problem of becoming a mostly EV company.
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