Overall February sales from Ford came in slightly weaker than expected for February, but it was a pretty strong month for sales of Ford F-series trucks. Trucks are not only higher margin, but they are often purchased by small businesses and contractors so they provide a good read on the health of the small business sector. Based on these sales totals, small businesses are expanding. As shown in the first chart, February sales came in at 68,243, which is a 3.5% increase from last February (which had the same number of selling days) and the second highest sales total for February going all the way back to 1996.  The only February that was stronger was in 2000 when sales of F-Series trucks totaled 71.82K.

With this month’s relatively strong sales total, YTD sales for F-Series trucks are now running at 127.18K. This now represents the 9th straight year that YTD sales through the first two months of the year have been better than the prior year, and going back to 1996, there have only been three years where the first two months of the year saw stronger sales totals (2000, 2004, and 1999).