Ford sales edge past Hyundai for No. 3 US spot

DETROIT — Ford held onto its No. 3 spot in U.S. auto sales for the third quarter, fending off a fast-charging Hyundai Motor that had been widely expected to pass the Detroit automaker for the first time. The Ford sales result was down from a year ago, but it landed better than the industry had braced for.

Ford on Friday reported third-quarter sales of about five hundred seven thousand light-duty vehicles, a 6.6% decline from the same period last year, according to CNBC. The figure excludes the company's largest heavy-duty trucks, which are classified separately. Hyundai Motor, counting its Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis brands together, sold about five hundred six thousand vehicles in the quarter, a 5.4% increase over last year — leaving a gap of fewer than 1,200 vehicles between the two companies.

Both automakers beat expectations. A forecast last week from Cox Automotive had called for Hyundai to overtake Ford in quarterly sales for the first time, a milestone that would have marked a changing of the guard among U.S. sellers. Hyundai has been making major inroads in the American market this year, while Ford has been hampered by production problems on its crucial F-Series pickup trucks following two supplier fires last year that disrupted both production and sales.

Beating the forecast

Ford has also faced punishing year-over-year comparisons, partly because of vehicles it no longer makes. The discontinued Ford Escape dragged down the headline number, and F-Series sales were off only 1.9% during the quarter — though that figure includes a 97.1% collapse in sales of the discontinued F-150 Lightning electric pickup. The Ford brand overall declined roughly 6%, while the luxury Lincoln line fell 18%.

Rob Kaffl, Ford's head of U.S. sales, said Friday that F-Series sales and inventories continued to improve during the quarter. He told reporters on a media call that the early-year headwinds are fading and that the quarter sets the company up for a "strong Q4," according to CNBC.

Ford on Friday downplayed how close Hyundai has come, arguing that Kia and Hyundai operate as separate brands in the U.S. despite sharing a corporate parent — a distinction that flatters the ranking but not the underlying trend. For the year to date, Ford retains a lead of roughly 89,700 units over Hyundai through the third quarter, based on figures reported this week. Electric-vehicle startups are also finding room in the same market: Rivian's R2 deliveries set a record as its third quarter beat estimates, showing demand is shifting toward newer EV players even as legacy automakers retrench.

An EV hangover for Detroit

The electric-vehicle business is where Ford's quarter looks weakest. Its EV sales were down 67.5% through September, including a roughly 80% decline in the third quarter alone. The comparison is a difficult one: Ford posted record EV sales during the same period last year, when demand spiked as buyers rushed to purchase before the Trump administration ended federal incentives worth up to $7,500 for electric-vehicle buyers.

That incentive cliff is reshaping the whole industry's EV math. With the federal credit gone, price-sensitive shoppers are holding back, and automakers are left with the demand levels that existed before the subsidy-driven rush. The pullback in spending power is showing up elsewhere too: Americans are guarding their vacation budgets fiercely, a sign the consumer caution squeezing car showrooms extends well beyond big-ticket purchases.

The narrow margin is the story Ford would rather not be telling. A decade ago, the idea of Hyundai challenging Ford for third place in American sales would have seemed far-fetched; now the gap is barely a rounding error. Ford sales teams spent the quarter clawing back F-Series ground lost to last year's supplier fires, and the company enters the fourth quarter with its year-to-date cushion intact but clearly thinner than its planners would like.

Above Ford, the U.S. sales leaderboard looks familiar: General Motors leads the market for the year, followed by Toyota Motor, with the Japanese automaker gaining ground on GM this year. Ford's job now is to convert its narrow third-quarter escape into something durable — restoring F-Series production momentum, working through its EV inventory, and proving to Wall Street that the forecasters who picked Hyundai to pass it were early rather than right. Read CNBC's full report on the third-quarter sales results here.