Ford European Sales and Market Share Continue to Rise

 

Ford sales rose 8.7 per cent – up 7,200 units to 90,000 vehicles – in its 19 traditional European markets, while overall industry sales increased 4.3 per cent.

 

Ford’s market share in Europe grew to 8.0 per cent from 7.6 per cent in July 2012, its fourth consecutive month of market share gains.

 

“It was welcome news to see overall vehicle sales improved compared with a year ago, and we are especially pleased that Ford’s sales rose faster than the industry,” said Roelant de Waard, vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe.

 

“We are seeing signs of stabilisation in the market, but it is too early to say a recovery is underway given the continuing economic uncertainty.”

 

Share Improvements
Ford passenger car retail market share in its five largest Western European markets (the UK Germany, France, Italy and Spain) was 8.0 per cent in July and 8.3 per cent in the first seven months of the year, up 1.5 percentage points and 1.1 percentage points, respectively. This was Ford’s best July and July year-to-date figures since Ford started tracking retail share in 2010, and July also marked the sixth consecutive month of retail share increase for Ford.

 

Ford’s share of the fleet market was 9.1 per cent in July, up 1.1 percentage points. This was the fourth consecutive month of fleet share increase for Ford. Compared to July last year, Ford sales to retail and fleet customers increased 8 percentage points to 76 per cent of total sales – slightly better than industry average -- while sales to rental companies and dealer registrations decreased to 24 per cent from 32 per cent a year ago.

 

Ford’s commercial vehicle market share in the 19 European markets totalled 9.2 per cent for both July and year-to-date, up 0.4 and 0.8 percentage points year-over-year, respectively. This was Ford’s best CV share for July since 2007.

 

Market Highlights
In Germany, Ford increased total sales in July by 4 per cent in an industry that grew 2 per cent. Ford’s total vehicle market share rose 0.1 percentage points to 7.2 per cent for the month. Ford’s retail share was 7.6 per cent, up by 3.4 percentage points, making Ford the third bestselling auto brand at retail in Germany – after VW and Mercedes, and just ahead of Audi. Ford’s commercial vehicle share in Germany increased 1.5 percentage points to 9.1 per cent.

 

In the UK, Ford extended its market lead as its share rose by 1.9 percentage points to 16.5 per cent – Ford’s best July share in four years. With 26 per cent higher sales, Ford more than doubled the industry growth rate of 11 per cent. Ford retail share was up 2.8 percentage points to 13.8 per cent. Fiesta and Focus topped the industry sales charts for both July and year-to-date.

 

In Turkey, Ford saw monthly sales of 9,000 units, up 3.2 per cent. So far this year, 60,000 Ford vehicles have been sold in the country, an increase of more than 2 per cent on the same period last year.

 

Across its total 51 European markets, Ford sold 113,700 vehicles in July, up 6 per cent versus last year.

 

Vehicle Sales Highlights
In July, Ford sold 5,800 all-new B-MAX multi-activity vehicles, with 44,100 B-MAX units been registered throughout the year. B-MAX continues to be Europe’s best-selling small MAV.

 

Fiesta sales were up almost 2 per cent in July, with 22,000 units sold. Sales of the new Fiesta ST also are exceeding expectations, with almost 10,000 orders placed since the model went on sale in March. To meet demand, Ford is increasing production at the company’s assembly plant in Cologne, Germany, by 15 per cent.

 

Focus sales were up 13.2 per cent in July with 18,700 units sold. Kuga sales increased 33 per cent to 6,000, giving Kuga its best July and year-to-date share since the first generation Kuga entered the market in 2010. Ford will increase Kuga production to meet the strong demand.

S-MAX also saw strong July with sales of 3,200, up by more than 4 per cent on July 2012.

 

Ford registered 15,200 commercial vehicles in July, and 108,700 year-to-date, an increase of 3.6 per cent and 1.4 per cent, respectively. The increase was driven by strong demand for Transit Custom and Ranger. Ranger sales increased by 17 per cent in July, the highest July for the nameplate since 2007, and year-to-date almost doubled versus the same period last year.