FORD SOUTH AFRICA SALES UP 15%

Total Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) sales up 15,4% year–on-year, ahead of market performance
Figo posts Top Five sales result

PRETORIA, South Africa, 02 August, 2011 – Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) sales during July were spurred on by the introduction during the month of the new Ford Focus, while Figo continued to perform well selling 1226 units.

“The Ford brand continued to show growth with Ford volumes being 29% up versus July last year representing an increase of 1,1 points in share. One of the key contributors was the highly successful Ford Figo which maintained its consistent position in the top 5 passenger selling cars,” said FMCSA’s National Sales Manager, Gavin Golightly.

FMCSA posted sales growth in the passenger and Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) markets year–on-year. The group’s passenger cars sales grew 15,09% while LCV's were up 16,05% on July 2010, substantially ahead of market performance.

South Africa’s new vehicle market was 10,5% in July, up year-on-year to 45,703 units. Passenger and LCV sales shared the spoils fairly evenly, 9,7% and 10,2% up respectively. The market showed nominal growth (1,8%) on the previous month’s sales.

Ford Fiesta, Focus and Ikon models all performed well during July, while Figo maintained a Top Five performance.

“The market showed some resistance during July with slower than expected growth when considered against the trend this year,” continued Golightly. “We do however expect great things from our newly launched Ford Focus and with the upcoming Johannesburg International Motor Show it will give us a further opportunity to show some exciting product plans which will help in maintaining good sales growth for the remainder of the year.”