• by Karl Greenberg , January 4, 2012

Ford Motor has some big 2011 numbers to boast about, especially in December. Erich Merkle, U.S. sales analysis manager at the Dearborn, Mich, automaker, said the year ended with a bang, with 1.28 million new consumer and commercial cars and trucks rolling off of lots. "Sales were solid and it was really after the 25th that we really saw strong acceleration, so the year ended on a high note," he said, during a Ford year-end conference call. "It provided the industry with a strong exit rate as we begin 2012."

Merkle said Ford sold over 210,000 vehicles last month, constituting a 10% increase versus the month last year. Ford's 2011 U.S. total of around 2.15 million constitutes an 11% increase versus 2010, including fleet and commercial sales. He said retail sales for the month were Ford's best since 2005.

Ken Czubay,  Ford VP of U.S. marketing, sales and service, reiterated something the automaker announced earlier this week: Ford was the only brand to sell over 2 million vehicles in the U.S. last year, "which has not been accomplished by any brand since 2007," he said, adding that 2011 brought Ford its third consecutive annual sales increase. "And the last time we did that was in 1995."

Those are big numbers -- but such data points in the current environment have taken a back seat to profitability, notes Jesse Toprak, VP of industry trends and insights at auto research and pricing firm TrueCar.com. "Success of an automaker is more than unit sales count. There has been a paradigm shift in terms of what's important, especially after the roller coaster ride we've just been through. Now it's about being profitable, not just making market share gains."

Toprak tells Marketing Daily that from a profitability perspective, Ford did, in fact, have one of its best years in a long time in 2011. "And if you look at other measures, they had a decent year. But they haven't exceeded expectations: they had a solid year with decent sales and market share growth, and that is partly because of the troubles of the Japanese automakers. But the good news is, Ford's product portfolio is more balanced today than ever."

According to Czubay, Ford divisional market share rose 3% this year to 2,062,915 vehicles. He said this is the first three-point market-share gain over three consecutive years that Ford has had since 1970. Ford's Escape compact SUV was the best-selling utility in U.S. and had an all-time record sales month in December. Sales of the Explorer SUV rose 124% versus the last month in 2010.

Ford also saw strong numbers for its small cars, which enjoyed a 25% boost last year with over 244,200 vehicles sold. "These results provided 10% of our share last year, a full percentage increase, and our best share in small cars since 2003," said Czubay, adding that Ford made inroads in the critical and import-friendly California retail market -- with a 37% sales gain there for the automaker's small car lineup, comprising Focus, Fiesta and Fusion.

The automaker is focusing a lot of its attention on its Lincoln luxury brand this year. Czubay said the luxury brand accounted for 85,643 units last year, constituting a 2% increase in retail for the brand.

Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, Ford's chief economist. is bullish on 2012, saying that stats from the Markit Group/Institute for Supply Management's Purchasing Managers' Index and others show a positive momentum into the first quarter this year, with unemployment insurance claims last week at 375,000 on a four-week moving average, "which signals some improved pace of job gains," she said, adding that December consumer sentiment numbers are higher than forecast, largely as a result of consumer consensus on the year to come.

"At this point we expect [2012] sales in the 13.5 to 14.5 million-unit range, and momentum out of the fourth quarter last year provides confidence that the lower end of this range is less likely."