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. Reuters
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. Reuters
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.” SEC
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.
