Ford Motor Co. claimed dominance in the first quarter of 2023 as a top-selling brand and top-selling truck manufacturer in the United States, driven in part by the popularity of its electric vehicles, according to the company's sales report released Tuesday.

Total Ford vehicle sales climbed 10.7% to 456,972 vehicles in the first quarter of 2023, compared with a year ago. (That doesn't include the Lincoln brand, which dropped 1.1% to 18,934.)

Overall sales highlights touted by Ford:

• Ford brand outsold second place Toyota by more than 50,000 vehicles.

• Ford trucks were up 19.6% to 254,023, outselling crosstown rival General Motors' combined truck and van sales by approximately 27,000.

• F-Series remained the bestselling truck in the U.S., with sales up 21.1% to 170,377 pickups — outpacing Chevrolet Silverado by 46,000 trucks. (F-Series total includes the all-electric Lightning.)

• Electric vehicle sales overall climbed 40.1% to 10,866.

• Internal combustion engine sales spiked 10.5% to 437,976.

• Bronco, designed to be a Jeep Wrangler competitor, climbed 37.6% to 32,430.

• Ford Expedition surged 99.2% to 19,359.

• Explorer jumped 35.9% to 58,061 as now the bestselling, three-row midsize SUV.

• The classic Mustang was up 5.2% to 14,711.

Ford vs. GM, Jeep

By contrast, General Motors reported Monday a sales increase of 17.6% to 603,208 new vehicles sold. GM sold 20,670 electric vehicles, mostly its established Bolt and Bolt EUV — with only two new Hummer pickups and 968 of the new Cadillac Lyriq SUVs.

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Also Monday, Stellantis reported a 9% drop in sales to 368,327 vehicles, with a 20% drop in Jeep and 7% drop in Ram Trucks, offset by 24% growth in Dodge and a 10% gain in Chrysler. Jeep numbers were grim: Wrangler dropped 17% to 37,971; Gladiator, down 24% to 13,575; Jeep Grand Cherokee, 27% to 54,502. Only Jeep Cherokee sales grew, at 31% to 13,213.

Jeep data suggests Ford has been successful in its attempt to break the grip Jeep has had on the off-road market.

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Bronco order banks just reopened

Bronco retail order banks reopened March 27 with steady demand, Ford said. The company reports a "conquest rate" — when customers who have purchased other brands then pivot to a competitor — of 60%, with buyers mostly coming from Wrangler and Grand Cherokee.

Industry analysts note that attracting new buyers is more costly for automakers than retaining current buyers.

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The Bronco family, which includes Bronco Sport, continues to attract a higher mix of female buyers; "Bronco female buyers accounted for 31% of retail sales, an increase of 8 percentage points since its introduction in 2021, based on most recent customer demographic data through January. Bronco Sport continues to hold strong at 51%," Ford said.

Mustang Mach-E

Mustang Mach-E sales dropped 19.7% to 5,407 this first quarter. The Ford plant in Cuautitlán Izcalli, Mexico, which builds the SUV shut down for a time to make changes to increase overall production this year, Ford said.

"We do expect to see (sales) growth in Mach-E as well as Lightning," Andrew Frick, vice president, sales distribution, and trucks, told the Detroit Free Press on Tuesday.

Factory changes

Ford is increasing production capacity across its Ford Blue, Model e and Ford Pro operations to meet demand. Ford Blue builds the gasoline-powered vehicles. Model e runs the electric operation. And Ford Pro is the business unit.

While the electric F-150 Lightning totaled 4,291 pickups for the first quarter, Ford CEO Jim Farley has assured Wall Street that he's on track to hit an annual production run rate of 150,000 in 2023.

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The Dearborn automaker also noted plans to increase production of the Bronco Sport and Maverick pickup at its Hermosillo plant in Mexico by more than 80,000 units later this year.

Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant will add a third crew in April to increase production of Transit and E-Transit vehicles, which grew 86% to 32,015 vans sold.

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What's next

"We've got a lot of great momentum and we've got exciting launches coming," Frick told the Free Press, citing the new Super Duty, Escape, Mustang and Ranger.

Gasoline-powered vehicles remain popular and play a key role in funding the company's transition to electric vehicles. But the company is seeing growth in gasoline-powered, electric and commercial, Frick said. "We're not having 'tradeoff' conversations."

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ford credits Bronco, F-Series, SUVS, EVs with Q1 sales jump