- Ford increased market share to 10.1 percent in September in its 19 European main markets – the best share for any month for Ford of Europe since September 2001
- Ford sold 51,400 new Ford Fiesta cars in September – the best September for Fiesta since 1994
- September was the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year monthly share improvement and the fourth successive month of year-over-year monthly volume increase
COLOGNE, Oct. 12, 2009 – Ford today reported that strong sales in September drove market share for its 19 European main markets to 10.1 percent – the highest share for any month since September 2001, and a 0.8 percentage point increase over the same month a year ago.
Ford of Europe sold 152,600 new vehicles in its 19 main markets in September, a gain of 12.3 percent over the same month a year ago, and better than the industry increase of 2.9 percent. Ford has now reported year-over-year sales gains for four months in a row, and market share increases for nine consecutive months.
“Traditionally we expect Ford to have a good month in September given the surge of new car sales in the U.K. due to the registration plate change. But September 2009 has surpassed expectations,” said Ingvar Sviggum, Ford of Europe’s vice president for marketing, sales and service.
Ford’s September share increased in 14 of its 19 European markets versus the same month 2008. The new Fiesta contributed to the strong results, with sales of 51,400 units registered in Europe last month – the best September for Fiesta since 1994.
“Market share and volume success are only valuable if they are achieved through high quality sales that generate good revenue, and we certainly saw that in September with retail sales accounting for 60 percent of Ford passenger car sales,” said Sviggum.
Sviggum said Ford remains concerned about the fragility of the underlying market. “With the sudden ending of some scrappage schemes and the more-controlled phasing out of others, the industry faces an uncertain future in terms of market demand as 2010 approaches. It is clear that there is still a need for government intervention in Europe to help bolster the market until demand reaches a more sustainable level,” he said.
September year-to-date
Ford succeeded in increasing its share by 0.5 percentage points to 9.2 percent, the best year-to-date September share for Ford in its main 19 European markets since 1999. Share was up in 17 out of the 19 main markets.
In the first nine months of 2009, Ford of Europe registered 1,097,100 vehicles in these 19 European markets, a reduction of 51,100 units or 4.5 percent, than in the same period in 2008. This compares with a total industry decline of 9.7 percent in the period. Year-to-date across its 51 markets, Ford of Europe sold 1,243,700 vehicles, a decrease of 172,000 units, or 12.2 percent fewer than in the same period in 2008.
See the link for the full September sales release. FORD OF EUROPE BREAKS 10 PER CENT MARKET SHARE BARRIER | Ford Motor Company Newsroom
Notes to Editors:
- Ford of Europe's market share refers to the 19 European markets (Euro 19) - excluding Turkey and Russia (as the other main markets) and excluding the 30 European Direct Markets (EDM), where we base our share on non-domestic sales volume and hence no total industry share figures are available. Sales data (reference: registrations) for specific car lines refer to Euro 19.
- 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), here however as retail sales (as total industry registrations numbers are not available).
- 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
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Ford of Europe is responsible for producing, selling and servicing Ford brand vehicles in 51 individual markets and employs approximately 69,400 employees. Ford is Europe's No.2 best-selling vehicle brand. In addition to Ford Motor Credit Company, Ford of Europe operations include Ford Customer Service Division and 22 manufacturing facilities, including joint ventures. The first Ford cars were shipped to Europe in 1903 - the same year Ford Motor Company was founded. European production started in 1911.