Ford reports smaller drop in 2022 U.S. sales as inventory levels improve

(Reuters) - Ford Motor Co on Thursday posted a smaller decline in annual U.S. sales compared to a year earlier, as an improvement in inventory levels allowed the U.S. automaker to ship more sports utility vehicles (SUV) and trucks to dealers.

The Dearborn-Michigan based company sold 1,864,464 vehicles in 2022, down about 2.2%. In contrast, sales in 2021 had fallen about 7%.

U.S. automakers have been able to sell more cars and trucks than their Asian counterparts, who have been hit by supply chains snags due to COVID-19 lockdowns in China.

Overall, U.S. new vehicle sales in December finished at 1.26 million units, with an annual sales rate of 13.31 million, according to figures from Wards Intelligence released on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)