Ford of Europe Increases Market Share In Difficult Economic Environment

COLOGNE - November 13, 2008: Ford of Europe sold 1,257,400 vehicles in its main 19 European markets in the first ten months of this year, while market share for October rose to 8.4 per cent from 8.0 per cent in the same month last year.

Although sales volume for the year so far is down 5.1 per cent compared to the same period last year, explained by credit tightening and falling consumer confidence across the industry, the company's year-to-date market share remained stable at 8.6 per cent.

"We are very pleased to see that our October market share has grown in our main 19 markets, in particular in Germany where Ford was the only brand among the top ten carmakers with increased passenger car registrations, against the industry trend," said Ingvar Sviggum, vice president, marketing, sales and service, Ford of Europe.

"This is further evidence that, despite the continuing economic uncertainty, customers continue to be attracted to Ford's outstanding vehicle portfolio, led by our all-new small cars, the Fiesta and the Ka. Thanks to this, we are well positioned to navigate our way successfully through the current downturn and emerge even stronger when the economy rebounds", Sviggum added.

October
Ford of Europe sold 107,600 vehicles in October across its main 19 European markets. This was down 12.4 per cent vs October 2007, but the company outperformed the industry by improving its market share by 4 tenths, to 8.4 per cent.

In its 51 European markets, Ford sold 133,200 vehicles, down 12.8 per cent versus the same month last year.

The top selling Euro 19 models were the Focus (25,900), the new Fiesta (14,600) and the Mondeo (13,900). In the UK, for example, for every Fiesta registered in October, two further customers are in the order bank.

Britain's strong October performance took the company's share to a market-leading 17.0 per cent (15.1 per cent at the same point in 2007). In Ireland, market share soared by 8.0 percentage points in October to 21 per cent.

For the sixth consecutive month in 2008, Germany achieved market share gains, amounting to a total vehicle market share in October of 7.4 per cent, up 1.0 percentage points compared with the same month last year.

In France, Fiesta, S-MAX and C-MAX were the best-selling imported vehicles in their segments. In Italy, Ford was the leading imported brand and Fiesta was the best-selling imported car with 7,200 vehicles sold.

2008 Year-to-date
Across all of its 51 European markets, the Company has sold 1,547,700 units so far this year, down 2.4 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

Britain has been the company's top performing market so far this year, selling 361,800 vehicles and giving it a market share of 16.2 per cent. Germany has sold 201,400 vehicles (up 5.1 per cent) and France 121,400 (an increase of 9.2 per cent). Spain has achieved a year-to-date market share of 9.3 per cent, in line with 2007, the same market share as Norway, which increased year-over-year by a strong 1.5 percentage points.

Ford sales in Russia and the European Direct Markets continued to be strong. Year-to-date sales in Russia increased by 13.3 per cent, to 154,000, and in the EDM markets by more than 36 per cent to 72,800 vehicles.