Shares of Ford Motor Company fell nearly 2% Thursday following a report from Cox Automotive forecasting that South Korea's Hyundai will outsell the American car company in the U.S. for the first time ever in the third quarter.

The automotive research firm projects that Hyundai will sell 511,421 new vehicles during the three months ending on Sept. 30, versus Ford's 504,172.

The fastest growth area for Hyundai in the U.S. has been for its hybrid vehicles, specifically its Santa Fe crossover sport-utility vehicle, Sonata sedan, and Tucson crossover SUV. Its U.S. sales rose 4% overall in the second-quarter compared with the same period last year.

"The broader market story continues to be the growing and mostly on the strength of Asian automakers," Cox senior economist Charlie Chesbrough said. "Asian brands are expected to account for more than half of U.S. new-vehicle sales for a second consecutive quarter, approaching record-high market share levels."

Other Asian car makers, Toyota and Honda, are expected to be the second and fifth largest sellers, respectively, with GM retaining the top sales spot with 671,7086 new cars sold.

Ford's sales have softened recently because of supply shortages of its top-selling F-150 pickup, due to inventory issues, lower demand for electric vehicles, and other issues.

Its stock also fell yesterday ahead of today's state dinner for China's President Xi Jinping. Notably, several car company CEOs-including Tesla's Elon Musk and GM's Mary Barra-are expected to attend the dinner, but Ford CEO Jim Farley isn't expected to be among them.

Other car stocks fell Thursday, too, most notably Stellantis, which is down 4.3%. The bond rout could be weighing on them because higher yields could result in higher borrowing costs, which in turn could slow car sales.

Ford didn't immediately reply to Barron's request for comment.