Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales grew less than 1% year-over-year in the third quarter, and General Motors Co. overtook it in electric vehicle sales.

Ford sold 504,039 vehicles in the July-through-September quarter, up 0.7%, compared to last year's 500,504 vehicles. Hybrid sales grew by 38%, and EVs were up 12%, while gas- and diesel-fueled vehicles that account for 86% of the automaker's sales fell by 2.8%. Luxury brand Lincoln’s sales rose 26% year-over-year.

Ford added 147,831 sales in September, down 11% from a year ago's 165,565 sales for that month. Through the first nine months of the year, the automaker sold 1.548 million vehicles, up 2.7% from the same period of 2023.

EV sales are on a pace for a record annual run at the automaker, but the 23,509 EVs sold represented a 12% quarterly increase, which was smaller than the first quarter's 86% improvement and the second's 61%. Although GM sales decreased 2% in the third quarter, EV sales grew 60% year-over-year to 32,195. GM now leads Ford in EV sales for 2024, 70,550 deliveries‬ to 67,689.

Ford, however, is putting up a fight for the No. 2 spot behind EV leader Tesla Inc. This week, it launched a new "Power Promise" campaign, offering to pay for a home charger and its installation for buyers of a new EV through the end of the year.

“Different lifestyles and use cases require unique types of power,” Andrew Frick, president of Ford Blue, the automaker's internal combustion engine and hybrid division, and the Ford Customer Service Division, said in a statement. “We’ve listened to customers to offer them vehicles with powertrains to meet their specific needs, and their response validates our product strategy.”

Truck sales increased 6% in the third quarter. F-Series pickups were up 4.2%, including a 105% increase in all-electric Lightning sales, a 64% increase in the hybrid model and a 12% increase in Super Duties. Ranger was up 110%, and Maverick rose 33%, including a 22% increase for the hybrid model. Transit commercial van sales fell 5.6%, including a 13% increase in all-electric E-Transit deliveries.

SUVs declined by 9%. Explorer, whose refresh launched in the third quarter, was up 25%, but Bronco fell by 19%, the Escape decreased by 7.3% and Expedition, whose new model debuts Thursday, declined by 13%. Bronco Sport sales were up 4.1%. The all-electric Mustang Mach-E was down by 19%.

Meanwhile, sales of the Mustang coupe, Ford's only car segmented vehicle, decreased by 8.2%.

At Lincoln, Aviator sales close to tripled. Nautilus sales rose 35% for its best third quarter since 2007, while Corsair's dropped 12% and Navigator's were down less than 1%.

GM this week reported a 2% drop in third-quarter U.S. sales to 659,601 deliveries. Toyota Motor Corp. reported a 0.8% decline in third-quarter sales with 542,872 deliveries. Stellantis NV's sales fell by 20% to 305,294 vehicles.

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