Ford Builds On Retail Sales Strength

BRENTWOOD, UNITED KINGDOM – Feb 7, 2013: Ford is maintaining a prudent balance in its UK business by maintaining its market lead through increased car retail sales and share, while backing off sales to daily rental fleets.

Ford's top-selling car range secured 13.7 per cent of the January market and Ford commercial vehicle (CV) sales and share were up, compared with January 2012. According to official sales figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT):

Ford leads UK overall, car and CV sales in January.

Ford Fiesta and Focus are the No 1 and 2 best sellers.

Ford B-MAX accounting for 1-in-4 of its segment sales.

Ford Fiesta Van accounts for 65 per cent of its segment.

Ford Transit maintains its clear lead in overall CV sales.

According to the official SMMT figures January car sales in the UK were up 11.5 per cent at 143,643 registrations, compared with January 2012. Ford sold 19,640 cars in January.

Significantly, Ford's retail car market share in January was 14.7 per cent, 0.3 percentage points up from the same month in 2012 and 5.4 percentage points of share ahead of its nearest rival. Ford retail car sales in January were 9,008 up from 7,628 in 2012.

Sales of both the best-selling Ford Fiesta and the Ford Focus were up, at 7,906 and 5,794 registrations respectively, compared with January 2012. There were also increased sales for the Ford C-MAX and the Ford Kuga, while the Ford B-MAX continued to exceed sales expectations with 1,148 January registrations accounting for 24.2 per cent of its segment.

UK commercial vehicle sales were up 4.0 per cent, compared with January 2012. The LCV and MCV segments in which Ford competes were up 13.4 and 9.3 per cent, respectively. Sales of Ford commercials in January were up from 3,845 to 4,393, compared with the same month last year, with share up from 20.8 to 21.7 per cent.

Ford medium commercials, headed by the industry-leading Ford Transit, were up from 3,271 to 3,492 and Ford’s share of MCV sales was 30.4 per cent up from 24.3 per cent in January 2012. Ford Fiesta Van dominated its segment with a 65.5 per cent share.

Mark Ovenden, Ford Britain managing director, said: "Ford is intent on maintaining the quality of its business in a fiercely competitive market. This is reflected in Ford driving up its share of more profitable retail sales while taking out marginal fleet business by lowering sales to daily rental fleets.

“This strategy is supported by the launches of award-winning vehicles and technologies and the unrivalled strength of our dealer network. More people, and more private buyers, choose Ford over any other vehicle brand and in the difficult market conditions that are expected to prevail in 2013 we will look to satisfy the needs of these customers by continuing to strengthen our vehicle range and providing the best sales and service offering in our dealerships."