The first quarter of 2026 was a rough one for sales of Ford's F-Series pickups. Thanks to the end of the F-150 Lightning and a major fire at one of Ford's biggest aluminum suppliers last year, Ford sold 16% fewer full-sized pickups than it did last year.
Ford's 49-year streak with the best-selling full-sized pickup isn't in danger, but we have been worried about Mustang over the last few years. America's pony car still isn't selling into the millions, or even hundreds of thousands like it used to. But it finished 2025 ever-so-slightly in the positive, and now, Mustang is on track to have its best sales year in a long time thanks to a shockingly good first quarter in 2026.
Aluminum Plant Meltdown Kicked Ford In The Can
Ford has been struggling to build vehicles since a major fire at supplier Novelis in New York last September. The initial fire and subsequent smaller fires meant that around 40% of the sheet aluminum supply in the US dried up overnight. Ford's big trucks and SUVs have aluminum bodies, so production has been greatly impacted. F-Series sales totaled 159,901 units through the first three months of 2026. Last year, the number was just over 190,000.
With parts in short supply, Ford had to cut production. It also pulled forward the end of the Lightning electric truck. Ford has said it will build an extra 50,000 trucks this year, but it has to wait for the aluminum supply to come back online to do it. The truck issue was certainly a big part of Ford posting a 9% overall drop in sales through Q1 2026, selling 433,705 vehicles.
If Ford starts to get body panels, the F-Series juggernaut will spin up again. In the meantime, the Blue Oval is still comfortably ahead of its closest truck competitor, Chevrolet, which managed to move around 126,000 pickups. Add in GMC and GM technically has the most truck sales, but they're counted as two different trucks.
Mustang Sales Up 50%
When is the last time you heard Mustang sales being up 50%? We can't remember either, but we suspect Ford is jumping for joy over that figure. After a few years of poor sales and even getting beaten by the electric Mustang Mach-E, the pony car is getting its groove back. We're still talking about a small groove – Mustang found 14,074 buyers in Q1, but compared to the 9,377 sales in 2025, it's a healthy improvement.
We asked Ford if there was a particular reason for the big jump. Since the current generation launched for the 2024 model year, there have been no appreciable changes save for the occasional special edition trim.
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This article originally appeared on CarBuzz and is republished here with permission.
