Ford Hybrid's sets monthly sales record up 323%

Total Ford sales were up 2.3% across the range to 165,279 vehicles for all of its brands in July, its first year-over-year monthly sales increase since November 2007. Ford’s hybrid vehicles (Fusion, Milan, Escape and Mariner) posted combined sales of 5,353, a record for any month and up 323 percent versus a year ago.

While Ford's Hybrid volume is down compared to Toyota's Prius sales of 19,193 units sold in July 2009, demand for Ford’s fuel-efficient vehicles coupled with the U.S. government’s Car Allowance Rebate System (“Cash for Clunkers”) enabled Ford to post the first sales increase of any major US manufacturer in 2009. The U.S. House of Representatives has approved an additional $2 billion for the “Cash for Clunkers” program.

Automakers sold about 13.2 million light vehicles in the United States in 2008, a sharp decline from more than 16 million sold in 2007, but sales rates plunged further in the first half of 2009 to an annualized rate as low as 9.1 million in February

In a similar situation to Toyota battery supplier Panasonic, Ford's battery supplier Sanyo has also recently announced an increase in production capacity by 250% to meet increasing demand for Hybrids.