JUN 3, 2014 | DEARBORN

BEST MAY RETAIL SALES IN 10 YEARS NETS RECORDS FOR FUSION, ESCAPE, LINCOLN MKZ; BEST EXPLORER SALES SINCE JULY 2005

• Ford Fusion and Ford Escape establish best-ever monthly sales records
• Ford Explorer, America’s best-selling midsize utility, has its best sales month since 2005
• Lincoln MKZ sets a new sales record for May; all-new Lincoln MKC now on sale
• Total May U.S. sales up 3 percent with 254,084 vehicles sold; retail sales up 6 percent with 174,889 vehicles sold

Ford Motor Company U.S. sales totaled 254,084 vehicles in May, up 3 percent from a year ago. Retail sales set several model records with 174,889 vehicles sold – an increase of 6 percent.

“Fusion and Escape had their best months ever, which helped us to our strongest May result since May 2004,” said John Felice, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service. “Explorer continued to gain ground in the midsize utility segment with its best monthly sales performance in nearly 10 years, while Lincoln MKZ saw its best May ever.”

Ford Fusion set an all-time monthly record in May with sales of 33,881 vehicles. The West region of the U.S. continues to push Fusion sales higher, with a 42 percent increase – making it Fusion’s best-ever retail month for the region.

With 31,896 vehicle sales, Ford Escape also posts an all-time record, topping the 30,000-vehicle mark for the first time ever. Ford Explorer sales in May topped the 20,000-vehicle mark for the first time since July 2005 with sales of 20,346 vehicles, a 21 percent increase from last year. Escape and Explorer sales of 52,242 vehicles helped increase total utility vehicle sales by 9 percent – the best May performance since July 2005.

Lincoln sales are up 21 percent for May, with 8,845 vehicles sold. MKZ had its best May sales performance ever, breaking last year’s record with 3,714 cars sold. The all-new Lincoln MKC is now on sale – with 677 MKC vehicles sold during the final weekend of May.

Ford has the most well balanced portfolio of ay car maker, I thnk.

Ford has the most well balanced portfolio of ay car maker, I thnk.

Where's their luxury brand?

The police auto, SUV and Heavy duty trucks sure made an impact on their sales, surprising the ones that had large double digit drops in sales and as Drew points out, where is there luxury division?

Do they need more than Lincoln currently gives them?

Substantially so.

Fusion, Escape and Explorer up. Basically, the usual suspects. I'm really surprised the C-MAX doesn't sell better. While I have never driven one, it is the same powertrain as the Fusion/MKZ hybrid so it shouldn't be a drivetrain problem. I wonder if it is something with the vehicle itself or more related to the fuel economy controversy?

it's ugly

Ford has the most well balanced portfolio of ay car maker, I thnk.

Where's their luxury brand?

That 850 MKS they sold is pretty impressive. Sounds like a sustainable business model to me, with a dealer network of about 325, they are selling nearly 3 cars per month per dealer, NICE!

I still don't understand how they have such and awful Lincoln line up and never bothered to take the Mustang chassis and V8 and make a rear drive Lincoln coupe, or a small rear drive sports sedan with a 2.3 ecoboost to compete with the ATS, IS350, etc. What I don't understand even more is why anyone would buy a Lincoln, except for a funeral home getting a nice discount.

The MKX and MKC are nice... that's about it. I was disappointed in the MKZ when I drove it. I have learned to HATE Sync...

it's ugly

When I see them, I mostly think it looks like a Focus wagon. They are't lookers but I personally don't think they are ugly. I would have assumed the styling is non-offensive enough it would neither help nor hurt sales.