January auto sales up, Ford last to report

traffic-safe2244361
traffic-safe2244361

Ford sales rose 6% in January, getting the year off to a good start. Ford analyst Erich Merkel says inventories are starting to catch up with demand as the company catches up with orders.

“They are coming down,” Merkel said. “We are starting to fill more of those orders, but the wait time can still be pretty long on some vehicles that are in really short supply and in hot demand. For instance, Bronco and Maverick are a couple of those.”

Still, Ford started the year with a record 350,000 vehicle orders. They’re working to reduce wait times. As a whole, the auto industry saw its sales up 6% in January. For was the last to release its numbers this week.