DETROIT — Ford Motor‘s new U.S. car gross sales began 2023 on a stronger footing than a yr earlier however have been down 18.4% from December, the corporate reported Thursday.

January is traditionally one of many weakest months of the yr, whereas December is without doubt one of the strongest. Nonetheless, the month-over-month decline is notable because the worst for the automaker since a 28% drop between Might and June of final yr. Between December 2021 and January 2022, gross sales declined 17.4%.

The automotive business continues to navigate by way of some provide chain and manufacturing points, though the stream of components and car manufacturing this yr is anticipated to be extra constant than in recent times. Morgan Stanley mentioned Thursday that U.S. auto gross sales final month smashed expectations: It estimated the seasonally adjusted promoting charge at 16.2 million in contrast with expectations of 15.5 million.

For January, Ford reported a 2% enhance in gross sales from a yr earlier to 146,356 automobiles bought. The uptick was led by gross sales will increase of 8.8% for F-Sequence pickups, 25.5% for Broncos, and 52% for Bronco Sport SUVs — in addition to a doubling of its electrical car gross sales, which have been and stay minimal. EVs made up 3.6% of Ford’s month-to-month gross sales.

A few of the automaker’s crossovers such because the Ford Edge and Escape skilled double-digit declines from a yr earlier.

“We’re happy with the robust gross sales begin to the yr with our positive factors being pushed by report electrical car gross sales, F-Sequence vehicles and Broncos,” Ford spokesman Stated Depp mentioned in an e mail to CNBC.

Ford’s EV gross sales — a serious focus of Wall Avenue — elevated to five,247 models in January, led by a roughly 11% enhance in gross sales of its electrical Mustang Mach-E crossover. The automaker bought 2,264 models of its electrical F-150 Lightning pickup in January.

On Monday, Ford introduced it was rising manufacturing and reducing costs of the Mach-E, weeks after business chief Tesla introduced comparable plans for its EVs.

The Mach-E led Ford to change into the second-bestselling automaker of EVs final yr within the U.S., albeit trailing Tesla by a large margin. Ford bought greater than 65,000 EVs within the U.S. final yr. Motor Intelligence estimates Tesla, which doesn’t report gross sales by area, bought greater than 522,000 EVs within the U.S. in 2022.

Ford’s January gross sales come forward of the automaker releasing fourth-quarter and 2022 earnings outcomes Thursday after markets shut. In October, Ford confirmed its prior full-year steerage of adjusted earnings earlier than curiosity and taxes of between $11.5 billion and $12.5 billion.

— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.