Ford utility sales decreased 18 percent to 177,796 units in the United States during the first quarter of 2025.
Ford utility vehicles include unibody crossovers like the Ford Bronco Sport, Ford Escape, Ford Explorer, all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E, and the discontinued Ford Edge, plus the Ford Bronco and Ford Expedition body-on-frame SUVs.
The Bronco Sport, Escape, and Mustang Mach-E were all in the green during the quarter.
For crossovers, the three-row Explorer outsold the rest of its corporate siblings, as has historically been the case, though sales were off by 19 percent to 47,314 deliveries. It was followed by the compact Escape, up two percent to 37,357 units. The compact Bronco Sport rugged crossover posted a six percent uptick to 33,363 deliveries while the all-electric Mustang Mach-E posted a 21 percent gain to 11,607 units. Finally, the discontinued midsize Edge sold 2,078 examples as remaining inventory dries up.
For SUVs, the Bronco led with as sales grew a solid 35 percent to 32,595 units, while the full-size Expedition, offered as the regular-length Expedition and extended-length Expedition Max, saw sales drop 37 percent to 13,482 units.
| MODEL | Q1 25 / Q1 24 | Q1 25 | Q1 24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FORD EXPLORER | -19.07% | 47,314 | 58,465 |
| FORD ESCAPE | +2.08% | 37,357 | 36,595 |
| FORD BRONCO SPORT | +5.70% | 33,363 | 31,565 |
| FORD BRONCO | +35.44% | 32,595 | 24,066 |
| FORD EXPEDITION | -37.47% | 13,482 | 21,560 |
| FORD MUSTANG MACH-E | +21.04% | 11,607 | 9,589 |
| FORD EDGE | -94.09% | 2,078 | 35,157 |
| TOTAL | -18.07% | 177,796 | 216,997 |
Most Ford crossovers, including the lone EV, were in the green during the first quarter of 2025, along with one of the SUVs – the Bronco.
Meanwhile, the Edge has been discontinued, to which The Blue Oval bid “farewell,” as inventory has all but dried up. Yet, a next generation model is currently on sale in China with three rows, known as the Edge L.
The drop in sales for the Explorer could be related to availability issues, and we fully expect the refreshed 2025 Explorer to return the nameplate to growth later this year (barring any roadblocks like impacts from tariffs and production or distribution issues stemming from them).
Finally, Expedition sales were down in volume likely due to the generational changeover of the updated 2025 Ford Expedition, which debuts many changes inside and out. With units just starting to arrive at dealers in late March, any sales impact of the new model wouldn’t be realized until later in the year. In fact, the new Expedition model has stiff competition from GM’s own refreshed SUVs from Chevy and GMC.
Going forward, we expect sales of the Explorer, Expedition Bronco and Bronco Sport to improve, while those of the Escape will decrease due to its forthcoming discontinuation after a short-lived 2026 model year.
The performance of the Mach-E in subsequent quarters will mostly depend on the status of the federal EV tax credit, while the Edge will continue to fade until all remaining inventory has been sold off.
Overall, Ford utility sales are sharping up to be a mixed bag. Here’s to hoping that the remaining models make up the lost volume from the discontinued or soon-to-be-discontinued nameplates.
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