There’s no denying it: At more than 41 percent of Ford’s total sales, the F-Series rules the roost. But there’s another story beneath the trucks’ showroom dominance, and it suggests that customers might be tired of spending $60,000 on a new vehicle. In August 2026, Ford’s sales of the F-Series, Explorer, Expedition, and Bronco fell by a significant amount, while the brand’s cheapest products enjoyed sales increases.
So what does the success of the Ranger and Maverick pickups, Bronco Sport crossover, and Mustang pony car tell us about the Blue Oval’s sales prospects? Same thing we’ve seen at Hyundai: Customers want cheaper cars.
Ford’s Entry-Level Models Are Enjoying A Nice Boost
2026 Ford Maverick Lariat Front 3/4 ViewFord
For most of the last year, average transaction prices of new cars have been hovering around $49,000, according to Edmunds market statistics. Although most of Ford’s lineup starts under that number, trucks like the F-150 ascend at the finance desk when optioned with even a few common features. For example, a stripped-down XL SuperCrew with four-wheel drive demands at least $50,000, a number that’s far out of reach of many new-car shoppers.
Potentially as a result of that price bloat, Ford customers are eschewing the automaker’s most expensive models. In August 2026, the automaker sold 67,504 F-Series, a slight 1.2 percent decline from August 2025. However, the compact Maverick more than made up for that loss with 13,680 transactions last month, a 14.4 percent increase (or 1,724 units) from the previous year. The Ranger also sold better, its 6,033 sales representing an uptick of 18.9 percent relative to August 2025.
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The year-to-date figures are similar, with the F-Series falling more than 10 percent from the first eight months of 2025, compared to the increases of 0.8 percent for the Maverick and 4.3 percent for the Ranger.
We’re not sure if those additional compact and midsize buyers are refugees from the pricey F-150 or if they’re conquest sales from other brands, but they still show that inexpensive vehicles are in high demand right now. And things may get even better in 2027, when many of the Maverick’s trims get quite a bit cheaper.
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The story is much the same on the SUV side of things. A broad slump in sales is affecting everything from the discontinued Escape and the Bronco off-roader to the family-sized Explorer and Expedition. And yet, the Bronco Sport cute-ute enjoyed a little boost in popularity with 11,827 sales in August 2026, an 8.3 percent boost from the same time last year.
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GTFord
Unfortunately, that isn’t enough to compensate for the precipitous falling-out of the Mustang Mach-E, which fell from more than 7,000 sales in August 2025 to just 1,989 last month. The electric crossover and the discontinued Escape were most to blame for the company’s 18,000-unit decline in SUV sales between this year and last. That said, Bronco Sport shoppers still seem to be sending that “cheaper is better” message to Ford.
Even the Mustang, whose two-door body style and limited trunk and rear-seat space should make it a very niche product, enjoyed a 12.7 percent increase in popularity in August, slotting in at 3,647 new customers (who may now need to return to the dealer for a recall).
Will Full-Size Trucks Stop Being Popular?
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In short, no. Full-size trucks like the F-150 and its Chevrolet Silverado and Ram 1500 rivals will probably always hold the enviable best-seller position in their respective lineups. In fact, if you combined every Maverick and Ranger that found a new home last month, they still wouldn’t measure up to even a third of the F-Series’ sales. So even though the F-150 may be slightly less popular now than it was last year, it’s still Ford’s golden goose, laying hundreds of thousands of profitable eggs each year.
In fact, the Blue Oval could probably discontinue every single model line except its full-size truck and it would still turn a profit, because all those $90,000 F-150 Platinums share their basic structure (and development costs) with their $40,000 XL siblings. The Maverick could only dream of profit margins like that.
Base Trim Engine
2.0-liter 4-Cylinder EcoBoost
Base Trim Transmission
8-Speed Automatic
Base Trim Drivetrain
Front-Wheel Drive
Base Trim Horsepower
250 hp
Base Trim Torque
277 lb-ft
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
Considering average transaction prices were under $40,000 only six years ago, many folks who bought a new car then are finding themselves priced out of the market now. As a result, many of them are turning to smaller, cheaper cars or pre-owned vehicles to avoid the bloat that seems to be affecting the entire industry.
Ford has committed to allaying that frustration with its $30,000 Fathom electric pickup and the aforementioned Maverick/Bronco Sport/Ranger triumvirate, and it looks as though the automaker could gain lots of new fans by doing so.
Source: Ford
