According to SupercarBlondie, the Toyota RAV4 could end the Ford F-Series’ 47-year run as the best-selling vehicle in the United States in 2024.
But it seems that the king is coming back to reclaim his crown in 2025.
By the end of the third quarter, Ford sold 597,546 F-Series trucks, up 13% from a year ago, according to Car and Driver. The lineup was helped by 40% higher sales of the electric F-150 Lightning.
The RAV4 fell to third place with 358,134 units sold.
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2024: 2.08 million vehicles sold, +4.2%
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2023: 1.99 million vehicles sold, +7.1%
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2022: 1.77 million vehicles sold, -2.2%
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2021: 1.9 million vehicles sold, -6.8%
Source: Car Sales Statistics
The company sold 765,649 F-Series trucks in 2024, up 2% year over year.
To build and sell those trucks a year, Ford relies heavily on its aluminum supplier in Oswego, New York.
Unfortunately for the Blue Oval, a late night fire in September destroyed a key part of the Novelis aluminum plant. Novelis supplies about 40% of the aluminum sheet used by the US auto industry, according to The Wall Street Journal, and Ford is its biggest customer.
Ford gets the aluminum for its F-150 pickup from the plant. The fire was big enough for CEO Jim Farley to address it during the company’s third quarter earnings call.
Farley said the company would have been on track to raise its full-year 2025 EBIT guidance “had it not been for the impact of the Novelis fire in Oswego, New York.”
Ford CEO Jim Farley visited the Novelis site after the September 16 fire that destroyed part of the factory’s roof.
The fire was so strong that around 175 firefighters from 26 fire departments of different areas had to respond to put it out.
Related: Ford CEO Jim Farley raises alarm, says ‘we are in trouble as a country’
“We immediately mobilized a dedicated crisis team, worked around the clock with Novelis to secure alternative sources of aluminum for our operating lines and expedite the recovery of a plant,” said Farley.
Despite the quick pivot, Ford expected an EBIT headwind of $1.5 billion – $2 billion in the fourth quarter, with a cash headwind of $1 billion or less between this year and next.
This was before the second big fire broke out in the plant on 20 November.
A fire started in the rolling section of the plant, where heated aluminum slabs are flattened into long, thin sheets before being further processed in a different part of the plant.
Novartis had previously stated that rolling would resume by the end of the year.