- For the first time in 2009, Ford's sales volume of new vehicles was up in June compared with the same month in 2008
- Ford's market share for the first half of the year rose by 0.5 percentage points to 9.2 per cent; June market share grew for the sixth consecutive month: up 0.3 percentage points to 9.1 per cent
- Fiesta – Europe's No.2 best-selling car – is Ford's top-seller in the Euro 19 markets, with nearly 300,000 sold in Europe since launch last autumn
- Ka has sold over 51,000 units in 2009 – its best performance since 2003
- Market share was up in 14 of Ford's main 19 European markets in June, and up in 18 of the main 19 European markets in the first half of 2009
- Ford was market leader in Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Denmark; France saw Ford's best performance in a decade; in Italy, Ford is outpacing the industry
- Ford sales in Europe add to the company's global sales momentum following gains in the US, Canada and China
Please click to view the July 2009 Fact Sheet
COLOGNE, July 13, 2009 – Ford of Europe – the No.2 best-selling new vehicle brand in Europe – saw a sales volume increase year-over-year in June by 2,300 units or 1.6 per cent. In total, Ford sold 142,700 new vehicles in its 19 main European markets in June. This was the first year-over-year sales volume increase since last December.
The news from Ford of Europe continues the positive sales improvement seen by Ford in other markets around the world in June, including China, the US and Canada, where Ford regained market leadership after 50 years.
Ford of Europe's market share in its main 19 European markets also rose in June for the sixth consecutive month – up 0.3 percentage points to 9.1 per cent – and increased in 14 of these markets. Ford's market share for the first half of the year in its main 19 European markets rose by 0.5 percentage points to 9.2 per cent, and was up in 18 of the 19 markets.
"Ford sales in June were the first to register a year-over-year volume increase since December 2008, and our market share was up again for the sixth consecutive month" said Ingvar Sviggum, vice-president marketing, sales and service, Ford of Europe.
"While June was a more positive month, we're still a long way from a sustained and healthy market. The underlying market across Europe remains weak, and would be in a far worse condition without the various national vehicle scrappage schemes. Major concerns such as the lack of access to affordable credit and continuing fears over rising employment continue to be huge hurdles to the market demand for new vehicles."
"We acknowledge the positive impact of national vehicle scrappage schemes on the industry across Europe, but given the market's ongoing weakness, it is very important that these schemes are prolonged and even expanded until the underlying demand for new vehicles has sufficiently recovered," said Mr. Sviggum.
Product paving the way to improvement
Mr. Sviggum thanked Ford customers for continuing to show their faith in the company and its products despite the difficult economic situation.
"Our all-new Ford Fiesta and Ford Ka continue to go from strength-to-strength, with volume sales well in excess of what they achieved in 2008. But I'm also pleased that we had strong sales not only with our smaller cars, but across the Ford product range."
"Our customers are continuing to show their confidence in Ford as a company and in our vehicles. I want to thank them for their support, and to let them know that the goal of everyone here at Ford is to ensure we continue to provide the great new products that our customers deserve," said Mr. Sviggum.
Leading the sales charge for Ford in June was the new Ford Fiesta, Europe's No.2 best-selling car and Ford's top-selling vehicle in the first half 2009 and June. Nearly 300,000 Fiestas have been sold since the car was launched last autumn. In the first six months of 2009, more Fiestas were sold than in the full year 2008. Around 45 per cent of all Fiestas sold are high series models. In June, 43,700 Fiestas were delivered to customers in Europe. This was 13,100 units more than the previous Ford Fiesta model sold in June 2008.
The all-new Ford Ka also continues to be a success in the market despite the economic situation. Ford sold 9,800 units in June (an increase of 4,100 units on June last year), and has delivered over 51,300 units to Ford customers since the car was launched earlier this year – its best sales performance since 2003. Customer-personalised Ka Individual models are already sold out for 2009, and around 60 percent of all Ka models sold are of high series specification.
The success of the Ford Fiesta and Ford Ka was supported by other positive sales results from the Ford product range. The Ford Focus was segment leader in Spain, and in Britain the car was the No.2 best-selling vehicle in June and in the first half 2009 behind the undisputed No.1 top-seller, the Ford Fiesta.
The Ford C-MAX was the best-selling foreign vehicle in its segment in France, and led the segment in Italy and Spain in the first half of 2009, while the Ford S-MAX was the No.1 car in its segment in Spain in the first six months of the year.
The Ford Mondeo continued to perform well, and was Ford's third best-selling car in June and year-to-date. The Mondeo led its segment in Norway in June.
June 2009 market overview
Ford of Europe's three top-selling vehicles (19 main markets) were the new Fiesta (43,700), the Focus (31,100), and Mondeo (13,600). These models were also the best-selling vehicles in the first half 2009, with Fiesta selling 235,000, Focus 154,200 and Mondeo 60,300 units in the Euro 19 markets.
With 36,000 deliveries to new customers, Britain was the company's best-performing European market in June and its second-largest global market. The newly-introduced scrappage scheme added 12,000 Ford registrations to the monthly figures. While sales were down 1,200 units from the same month in 2008, market share rose to 18.3 per cent – an impressive 3.0 percentage point rise compared to June last year.
Supported by its scrappage scheme, Germany had its strongest industry month in June since March 1999. The company enjoyed an increase of 28.7 per cent in sales versus June 2008. In total, Ford sold 30,800 vehicles; up by 6,800 units on June last year.
In France, Ford enjoyed its best sales performance in a decade, with C-MAX and
S-MAX continuing to be the best-selling imported vehicles in their segments. Ford's total share for June was up by 0.3 percentage points to 5.8 per cent, resulting in sales of 16,300, or a plus of 600 units on the same month 2008.
20,600 Ford vehicles were delivered in Italy to new customers last month – an increase of 23.6 per cent or 3,900 units – and lifted Ford Italy's share by 1.2 percentage points to 9.1 per cent versus June 2008. Ford remained Italy's leading import brand, while Fiesta continued to be the best-selling imported car and No.3 best-selling car in Italy.
In June, Ford took commercial vehicle market leadership in Spain, with an 11.1 per cent share, and a 9.2 per cent total vehicle share. This was down by 1.1 percentage points from June 2008, mainly due to Ford's decision to reduce rental volumes there. Private retail business, however, was increased by 59 per cent in June.
In other markets, Ford's share in the Central European region was 9.5 per cent – a new, all-time monthly record. Ford achieved its highest-ever share record of 14 per cent and was market leader in Denmark in June. Another record was set in the Czech Republic where Ford was the leading importer and was up 2.8 percentage points on June last year with a 12.5 percent share. The Czech Republic was also Ford's largest market for the Fusion. Polish market share at 8.7 percent was the best monthly result since March 2005.
Ford of Europe's performance in the first half of 2009
In the first six months of 2009, Ford of Europe sold 733,300 vehicles in its main 19 markets: down by 90,200 vehicles, or 11 per cent over the same period in 2008. Ford's market share, however, rose by 0.5 percentage points to 9.2 per cent, and 18 out of 19 markets had share gains (following a deliberate plan to cut rental volumes, only Spain was down year-to-date.)
In its 51 markets, year-to-date Ford of Europe sold 840,400 vehicles, a reduction of 163,700 or 16.3 per cent versus 2008.
In the first six months of 2009, Ford sold 188,300 vehicles in Britain, down 47,200 or 20 per cent compared to last year. While the UK's industry declined by 30 per cent during this period, Ford's market share in Britain rose to 18.2 per cent, up 1.9 per cent from the first half of 2008.
In Germany, Ford saw its strongest performance in the first half since 1999 and increased its year-to-date sales by 28.6 per cent or 33,900 units, selling 152,400 new vehicles. Market share was 7.5 per cent, up 0.8 percentage points compared with 2008.
Italy reported a sales increase of 8,500 units. In total, 120,000 new vehicles were delivered to customers, giving a market share increase of 2.0 percentage points to 9.7 per cent.
Year-to-date market share for Ford France increased by 0.3 percentage points to 5.7 per cent, translating into sales of 75,200 – a reduction of 5,700 units on 2008.
In Spain, the industry fell by 45 per cent in the past six months, with Ford sales totaling 43,300; a reduction of 39,000 or 47.4 per cent on the same period the previous year. Ford's market share in Spain was down by 1.2 percentage points to 8.8 per cent, though mainly due to Ford's decision to reduce its exposure to the rental market.
While the market in Russia continued to be one of the most depressed in Europe during the first half of 2009, Ford managed to lift the company's market share there for the first half 2009 by 0.1 percentage points to 6.3 per cent.
In other markets during the first half of the year the largest share gains were in Denmark (+ 2.3 percentage points); the Czech Republic (+2.3 percentage points); Hungary (+2.1 percentage points); Finland (+2.1 percentage points); and Ireland (+2.0 percentage points). Ford is market leader in Ireland and Hungary, and import leader in the Czech Republic.
June and first half 2009 sales volume
|
| June 09 | June YTD 09 |
| Euro 19 1 | 142,700 | 733,300 |
| Euro 21 (Euro 19 + Russia and Turkey) | 155,600 | 816,100 |
| EDM 30 2 | 4,400 | 24,300 |
| Total EURO 51(EURO 21 + EDM 30) | 160,000 | 840,400 |
1 The Euro 19 markets are: Austria, Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Ford reports sales for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania through our Finnish National Sales Company, so sales data for the Baltic states is also included within Euro 19.
2 European Direct Markets are: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Gibraltar, Kazakhstan, Kyrgysztan, Libya, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.
June and first half 2009 market share3
|
| June 09 | June YTD 09 |
| Euro 19 3 | 9.1 % | 9.2 % |
| Euro 21 (incl. Russia and Turkey) | 8.8 % | 9.0 % |
3 Not available for EDM, where we base our share on non-domestic sales volumes.
June and first half 2009 sales by vehicle line (Euro 19) 4
| Model | June 09 | o(u) June 08 | June YTD 09 | o(u) JuneYTD 08 |
| New Ka | 9,800 | 9,800 | 51,300 | 51,300 |
| New Fiesta | 43,700 | 43,700 | 235,000 | 234,900 |
| Total Ka (previous/new) | 9,800 | 4,100 | 53,000 | 20,700 |
| Total Fiesta (prev./new) | 43,700 | 13,100 | 239,700 | 53,800 |
| Fusion | 5,200 | (2,600) | 29,300 | (10,200) |
| Focus | 31,100 | (2,100) | 154,200 | (50,300) |
| Focus Coupé-Cabriolet | 1,100 | (400) | 5,600 | (1,600) |
| C-MAX | 8,600 | (2,000) | 40,700 | (23,200) |
| Kuga | 5,900 | 3,000 | 29,400 | 23,800 |
| Mondeo | 13,600 | (700) | 60,300 | (31,600) |
| S-MAX | 4,200 | (1,600) | 21,400 | (10,500) |
| Galaxy | 3,000 | (200) | 14,000 | (4,100) |
| Transit | 11,000 | (6,100) | 56,100 | (43,300) |
| Transit Connect | 3,500 | (2,000) | 19,300 | 4,900 |
| Ranger | 1,300 | +/- 0 | 7,400 | (2,300) |
4 Figures do not include vehicles such as the Fiesta van, Maverick, Explorer imports and Turkish-built Cargo heavy trucks.
Notes to Editors:
- Ford of Europe's market share refers to the traditional main 19 European markets (Euro 19) - excluding Turkey and Russia (as the other main markets) and the 30 European Direct Markets (EDM), where we base our share on non-domestic sales volume.
- We also report our sales performance (passenger cars and commercial vehicles) for the total region for which Ford of Europe is responsible (51 markets in total).
- Sales data for specific car lines refer to the Euro 19 markets.
- The Euro 19 markets are: Austria, Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Ford reports sales for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania through our Finnish National Sales Company, so sales data for the Baltic states is also included within Euro 19.
- European Direct Markets are: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Gibraltar, Kazakhstan, Kyrgysztan, Libya, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
Please click to view the July 2009 Fact Sheet