Summer Car Sales Stretch Ford Lead

BRENTWOOD, UNITED KINGDOM - August 7, 2008: Sales of new Ford cars in July rose by over 8.5 per cent to 25,301 compared to the same month last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

In a month when the new car market in Britain declined by 13 per cent, this strong performance made Ford the number one choice of consumers in July, with a 16.4 per cent total market share.

With commercial vehicles added, the number of new Ford vehicles sold in July amounted to over 32,000.

The Ford Focus just beat the Ford Fiesta to be the number one best seller in July.

Roelant de Waard, Ford of Britain chairman and managing director, said: "As Ford offers its best ever model line-up to British motorists, I'm delighted that we're being rewarded with an increased share of sales. The reaction of customers and motoring enthusiasts to the new Fiesta and other Ford on display at the motor show demonstrated that we're on the right track."

Ford's new car market-leading performance in July is repeated over the first seven months of this year. Car sales of 210,625 so far this year put Ford almost 14,500 units ahead of its nearest competitor and give the blue oval a 15 per cent share of this market, a slight increase on 2007.

Fuel-efficient Fords drove sales of the company's models with CO2 levels under 120g/km up by 43 per cent this year. Tightening economic factors have made the cars' affordable VED (tax disc) rates and outstanding fuel economy popular with hard-pressed motorists.

The Ford Fiesta remains Britain's top-selling car among retail, or private, buyers, and the all-new version of the car due in showrooms in October is leading the next wave of Ford's 2008 product launches. The new Ford Fiesta ECOnetic boasts CO2 emissions of 98g/km and 76.3mpg fuel efficiency.

Ford's total retail registrations took 11.3 per cent of all private new car sales last month. New Ford Focus and Kuga models helped lift the July retail share by two percentage points over the same month last year. Year-to-date Ford penetration of the retail car market rose by 1.2 percentage points to almost 13 per cent.