Ford European New Vehicle Sales Rise 11 Percent in 2015; Europe's No. 1 CV Brand; More New Models Set for 2016

Ford Motor Company sales in Europe increased 11 percent in 2015, and the company became Europe’s No. 1 commercial vehicle brand last year for the first time in 18 years.

Ford sold a total of 1.3 million vehicles in its 20 traditional European markets* last year. Ford’s market share increased by 0.1 percentage point in 2015 to 8.0 percent, marking Ford’s second straight year of share growth in Europe.

Across all 50 European markets, Ford sold 1.5 million units, up 10 percent, driving Ford’s market share up by 0.5 percentage points to 7.7 percent.

“In 2015, we showed our customers a more emotional, vibrant and upmarket vision of Ford with cars like the new Mustang and Mondeo Vignale, and we’re poised for an exciting 2016 with vehicles such as the all-new Edge SUV and RS Focus performance car,” said Jim Farley, chairman and CEO, Ford of Europe.

“We’re especially proud that our commercial vehicle customers have made Ford Europe’s No. 1 CV brand. We’ll continue to grow and serve customers in 2016, including offering our top-selling Transit and Transit Custom with an all new powertrain and new technology.”

Ford’s commercial vehicle sales grew 23 percent last year on growing demand for the new and expanded Transit range and the Ranger pickup. Market share rose by 1.2 percentage points to an industry-leading 12.6 percent (Europe 20).

For both total vehicle and passenger car sales, 2015 was the best year since 2011. For commercial vehicle sales, it was the best year since 2007 (Europe 20).

Sales channels

Ford’s sales in the higher value retail and fleet market, accounted for 74 percent of its car sales in 2015, 3 percentage points better than the industry average.

Series mix

Titanium (high series) passenger car sales were up 7 percentage points on average year-over-year. High series sales range from 78 percent for the S-MAX, to 27 percent for the Fiesta. Ranger Wildtrack – the highest series version of the model – improved from 25 percent to 34 percent of total Ranger sales last year.

Vehicle highlights

Sales of the all-new Mondeo increased by 75 percent last year versus 2014.

With sales of 311,700 units, the Fiesta is expected to have been the No. 1 top-selling small car in Europe, and the No. 2 best-selling car overall, for the fourth consecutive year.

Ford SUVs sales were up 31 percent. Kuga sales rose 19 percent to 102,800 units last year, its highest annual volume since the first generation vehicle was launched in 2008. Sales of the EcoSport compact SUV more than tripled last year.

Sales of Ford performance cars – including the Fiesta ST, Focus ST, Focus ST diesel, and the Mustang – were up 62 percent in 2015 (Europe 20). Sales of the Focus ST – launched in 2015 – were at 12,200 units, 47 percent of which of the diesel variant offered for the first time as a Focus ST model. More than 13,000 customers to date have ordered the all-new Ford Mustang which went on sale in Europe last summer for the first time in the icon’s 51-year history; 4,700 units of the 13,000 were sold in 2015.

Sales of the Transit range of commercial vehicles rose by 24 percent to 233,000 units. Plus, with sales of 27,300 units, the Ford Ranger became the No. 1 pickup in Europe last year.

December sales

Ford’s December sales rose 22 percent in Ford’s traditional European 20 markets, and were up 13 percent across all 50 European markets. Ford’s Euro 20 market share improved by 0.5 percentage points to 7.7 percent in December, whilst its Euro 50 share was up by 0.8 percentage points to 7.8 percent.

2016 Outlook

“We’re expecting great things from our SUVs in 2016 as we will soon have a complete range of vehicles in this dynamic growth segment,” said Roelant de Waard, vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe. “We’ll have a full year of the enhanced EcoSport; the all-new Edge coming on stream midway through 2016; and our popular Kuga as well. Across the main European markets, we expect to surpass 200,000 SUV sales for the first time in Ford’s history in Europe – a growth of more than 30 percent on 2015.”

“We also anticipate that 2016 will be a record year for Ford Performance product sales including a full year of Focus ST and ST Diesel sales, continued strong sales of Fiesta ST, arrival of the new Focus RS and a full year of Mustang sales across Europe.”

In total, Ford will launch eight new or updated vehicles in Europe in 2016 – one more than in 2015 when more than 50 percent of Ford’s model range by sales was freshened.

* Ford of Europe reports its sales for the 20 European main markets where it is represented through National Sales Companies. The Euro 20 markets are: Austria, Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland.

Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 197,000 employees and 67 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford and its products worldwide, please visit www.corporate.ford.com.

Ford of Europe is responsible for producing, selling and servicing Ford brand vehicles in 50 individual markets and employs approximately 53,000 employees at its wholly owned facilities and approximately 68,000 people when joint ventures and unconsolidated businesses are included. In addition to Ford Motor Credit Company, Ford Europe operations include Ford Customer Service Division and 24 manufacturing facilities (16 wholly owned or consolidated joint venture facilities and 8 unconsolidated joint venture facilities). The first Ford cars were shipped to Europe in 1903 – the same year Ford Motor Company was founded. European production started in 1911.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160112005531/en/