DETROIT – Ford Motor’s U.S. car gross sales confirmed constructive indicators of restoration from an ongoing scarcity of semiconductor chips that is wreaked havoc on the worldwide automotive business this yr.

The Detroit automaker on Wednesday reported gross sales of 175,918 new autos in October, down by 4% from a yr in the past, however are a far narrower loss than in prior months. The gross sales mark Ford’s greatest gross sales by quantity since April and the primary time since Could that the corporate hasn’t reported a double-digital monthly loss in contrast with 2020.

“By means of June of this yr, Ford retail gross sales had been up 10.7%. With constrained inventories and report flip charges within the second quarter, now we have been working intently with our sellers gathering retail orders, that are up 16-fold over final yr,” mentioned Andrew Frick, Ford vice chairman of U.S. and Canada gross sales.

In one other constructive be aware, Ford mentioned car inventories, which have been at record lows as a result of chip scarcity, elevated by 7,000 items from a month earlier to 243,000 vehicles and vans.

Ford’s gross sales final month outpaced the business, in response to Cox Automotive. The auto analysis firm on Wednesday estimated new U.S. car gross sales had been down by about 21% in contrast with October 2020. That is higher than Cox’s preliminary forecast of a 30% decline.

“The market continues to be experiencing very low stock and correspondingly low incentives, however the worst is probably going behind us,” Cox mentioned in a launch.

Ford is amongst a handful of automakers to report new month-to-month car gross sales. Others equivalent to General Motors and Stellantis (previously Fiat Chrysler) solely report quarterly gross sales.

Ford’s October gross sales come every week after the corporate nearly doubled Wall Street’s earnings expectations for the third quarter and raised its full-year adjusted earnings steerage to between $10.5 billion and $11.5 billion, up from between $9 billion and $10 billion. 

Nonetheless, Ford is not within the clear concerning its provide of semiconductor chips simply but. CFO John Lawler final week mentioned the corporate expects the chip scarcity to proceed into subsequent yr and doubtlessly, to a far lesser extent, into 2023.

Lawler mentioned Ford expects a ten% improve in wholesale car volumes in 2022 in contrast with this yr, because the semiconductor scarcity continues to affect the enterprise.