The Ford Transit is one of a select few, in-demand models that The Blue Oval has worked to ramp up production of in recent months, along with its EV counterpart, the E-Transit. To do so, the automaker invested $95 million in its Kansas City Assembly plant and added a third shift back in April, which resulted in a big boost in the month of May as a total of 18,296 Ford Transit vans rolled off the assembly line that month – 75 percent more than April. However, according to the automaker’s August sales report, Ford Transit production took a turn for the worst in August.
Last month, Ford built a total of 5,399 Transit vans, which is a whopping 62 percent less than July, when it produced 14,215 units. That total is also by far the lowest of the year thus far, bringing the Transit’s total production through August to 109,015 units. It’s unclear what caused this dip in production, though there is at least one possibility worth mentioning.
For starters, 2023 Ford F-150 production was hampered last month by parts shortages – but only at the Kansas City plant. That prompted the automaker to cut back from three shifts to just one for a full week. Even though it’s built on a different line, it is possible that this issue – which the automaker blamed on a “supplier parts shortage” – also impacted the Ford Transit.
Regardless of the cause, this production cutback isn’t idea for a model that’s currently crushing its competition in terms of sales. In the U.S., Ford Transit deliveries totaled 32,031 units in Q2 2023, an increase of about 30 percent compared to 24,617 units sold in Q2 2022. That was good enough to garner a 41 percent share of the market, handily beating the Ram Promaster (20,200 units sold) and the Chevy Express (9,227 units sold) to boot.
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Comments
The reason why the GMC and Chevy vans (full size) is losing because they are not making them on purpose. People want it but they aren’t making it.
Ford Transit & Mustang alone won’t keep Ford profitable. Not enough numbers. Yet Fusion was chopped away while still selling about 200k per year. Great job Ford.
Stop building E models. Bring back the Crew for Transit…and if you wouldn’t make people wait for so long to get their vans the sales would skyrocket! There. I said what everyone else wanted to say.