BRENTWOOD, Essex, 4 September 2009 – Ford car sales outperformed the market last month almost three times over, according to industry figures out today.
Continued busy scrappage trading also helped market leader Ford to take 16.9 per cent of total August registrations – up from 16.1 per cent a year ago.
While August's car market grew by 6 per cent year on year, Ford's sales leapt by 17 per cent, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Almost 1,400 of Ford's 10,755 car registrations in August this year were to customers scrapping a 10-year-old vehicle or older in return for a minimum £2,000 incentive. Ford sold 9,199 cars last August – traditionally the second smallest market ahead of September's annual plate change.
As scrappage scheme registrations are dominated by retail customers, increased deliveries of Ka, Fiesta and Focus models drove up Ford's private car sales by over 25 per cent last month. Ford has delivered over 13,000 vehicles to scrappage customers since the scheme began in May.
The Ford Focus, in particular, starred with 4,366 August registrations versus 2,933 in the same 2008 month. August's top selling car was the Ford Focus, while Ford Fiesta tops the year-to-date sales charts.
Nigel Sharp, Ford Britain managing director, said: "August proved to be a surprisingly strong run-up to this month's '59-plate' launch. The momentum of scrappage through early summer together with September's plate change suggests a busy month ahead at Ford dealerships."