New York, January 7, 2026, 08:44 (ET) — Premarket
- Ford shares up about 2.3% in premarket trading.
- 2025 U.S. sales rose 6%, with hybrids and Maverick pickups leading gains.
- Investors now turn to Ford’s Feb. 10 earnings for 2026 outlook and EV margin signals.
Ford Motor shares were up about 2.3% at $13.80 in premarket trading on Wednesday.
The move follows Ford’s latest U.S. sales update, which leaned heavily on hybrids and lower-priced trucks at a time when buyers have grown more price sensitive. Ford said 2025 U.S. sales rose 6% to 2,204,124 vehicles, and hybrid sales climbed nearly 22% to 228,072 as its compact Maverick pickup posted an 18% gain. “(Maverick sales) really had a big impact on how we addressed affordability in the market,” Andrew Frick said on a call. 1
That matters now because the U.S. car market is moving unevenly into 2026, with tariffs and the loss of a $7,500 electric-vehicle tax credit still reshaping what sells and what doesn’t. U.S. new-vehicle sales rose about 2.4% in 2025 to 16.2 million, Omdia data showed, but analysts are split on whether the pace holds this year; “To say it’s been a sales roller coaster of a year would be an understatement,” Thomas King, president of OEM solutions at J.D. Power, said. Executives from Detroit’s auto giants have also been called to testify on affordability at a U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Jan. 14, the report said. 2
Ford also put the sales release into the SEC record. In a Form 8-K dated Jan. 6, the company said its U.S. fourth-quarter sales news release was filed as Exhibit 99 under “Other Events.” 3
Investors are trying to separate volume from profit. Ford’s strong hybrid and Maverick numbers help on mix, but the company is still managing a slower EV backdrop after it flagged a $19.5 billion writedown — an accounting charge — tied to parts of its electric strategy in December.
The risk is that sales momentum turns expensive to defend. If incentives rise, or tariff-related costs bleed into sticker prices faster than paychecks, the lift from hybrids can fade quickly, and investors will go back to the same question: what earns real money as EV demand cools.
