- Shares of Ford hit a six-year high on Thursday, jumping as much as 7% following its May sales report.
- The company said it saw a 184% surge in electric vehicle sales, in part driven by the Mustang Mach-E.
- Ford is up as much as 80% year-to-date as investors reward its jump into electric vehicles.
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Ford surged as much as 7% to a six-year high on Thursday after it reported May sales that showed a massive jump in electric vehicle sales.
The company's EV strategy appears to be paying off following the release of its Mustang Mach-E and unveiling of the F-150 Lightning pickup truck. May sales for the 117 year-old automaker jumped 4% year-over-year to 161,725 vehicles.
Ford's EV sales saw a 184% spike to 10,364 units in May, and signs are building that the company could be slowly taking market share away from Tesla. The electric version of Ford's Mustang topped car sales for the small but influential EV market in Norway in May. Ford's EV sales in Norway edged out EVs from both Toyota and Tesla.
Total Mustang Mach-E sales were 1,945 for the month of May. Hybrid versions of Ford's F-150, Escape, and Explorer vehicles also helped boost sales for the company.
EV sales weren't the only bright spot for Ford. The company said its SUV sales in May jumped 29% and recorded its best May retail sales since 2003.
The strong sales growth for Ford in the EV space could be in the early innings, as it is still working to ramp up production of its Mustang Mach-E and begin selling its F-150 Lightning truck. And new polling data suggests that the electrified F-150 will be a hit with consumers.
A poll conducted by Piplsay showed that 32% of Americans are most impressed with the F-150 Lightning in the electric pick-up space. Tesla's Cybertruck rounded out second place, with 24% of Americans most impressed by the futuristic-looking pickup truck.
Still, Ford has a lot of catching up to do with Tesla in terms of EV sales, as the California-based auto manufacturer remains the undisputed leaded in EV sales. Tesla sold nearly 500,000 EVs in 2020, and future projections suggest the company could hit 1 million EV sales by 2022.
But so far this year, Ford's share outperformance of Tesla continues. Shares of Ford are up about 80% year-to-date, while Tesla is down about 15% year-to-date.
