Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Ford leads in main UK car markets
















From the Ford Ka city car across the range of Ford Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo to the Ford S-MAX and Galaxy people carriers, each model is strengthening its sector-leading position.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) confirmed:

Ford Ka takes one fifth of city car sales. Volume of 9,287 units year-to-date up on last year.

Almost 10,000 customers a month choose a new Ford Fiesta, with more than 39,000 registrations in the first four months of the year and a 18.5 per cent segment share.

Ford Focus sales of 46,850 are beating its January to April 2006 total and account for 22.8 per cent share of the medium car market.

Bonus news for Ford Mondeo - currently enjoying positive media reviews of the new model on sale in June - is the continued popularity of the current model. Registrations so far this year have topped 18,000, or 800 ahead of a year ago, to make up 21 per cent of large car business.

New Ford Galaxy, together with European Car of the Year Ford S-MAX, is proving its sustained popularity among drivers of Multi-Purpose Vehicles. This year Ford Galaxy has increased its volumes by 80 per cent to 3,800 vehicles (37 per cent of all MPVs sold). Over 4,750 examples of its Ford S-MAX cousin have been sold this year.

Roelant de Waard, Ford of Britain chairman and MD, said: "Having just tested new Ford Mondeo, I know we have another sure-fire winner on our hands. The car is set to keep Mondeo in the number one large car slot. With every other major Ford model also ahead of the competition, our summer sales are forecast to be hot."

Ford commercial vehicles including Transit, Europe's International Van of the Year, took 30 per cent of the medium CV segment.

Ford's total car and CV volumes are more than 10,000 vehicles up on this time last year - putting the blue oval's overall share at 16.7 per cent (16 per cent April 2006 year-to-date).