Ford of Europe New Vehicle Sales Up 10% in January on Strong Demand for SUVs, Commercial Vehicles, Performance Cars

Driven by strong demand across its vehicle range – including SUVs, commercial vehicle and performance cars – Ford’s total vehicle sales and market share in Europe continued to grow in January.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160212005189/en/

Ford of Europe's drive to increase its SUV sales continued in January, with EcoSport compact SUV sales up 50 percent and Kuga midsize SUV sales increasing by 19 percent. (Photo: Business Wire)

For total vehicle and passenger car sales, it was the best January for Ford since 2012, selling 96,900 vehicles in its 20 traditional European markets. This was almost a 10 percent increase compared with January 2015, and about 3 percentage points better than industry growth. Ford market share increased by 0.2 percentage points to 7.9 percent.

Across all of its 50 European markets, Ford sold a total of 105,200 vehicles – up nearly 9 percent vs an industry growth of just 3 percent – and driving Ford’s market share up 0.4 of a percentage point to 7.6 percent.

“The European auto industry is off to a very strong start and Ford was able to outpace this growth thanks largely to demand for our SUVs, commercial vehicles and performance vehicles,” said Roelant de Waard, vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe. “Importantly, we gained share by selling to retail customers while many others in industry are using self-registration and rentals sales extensively.”

Ford’s sales in higher value sales channels were markedly up in January. Retail and fleet sales accounted for 81 percent of Ford’s car sales in January – 3 percentage points better than in the same month last year and 11 percentage points better than the industry average.

Commercial vehicles:

Ford CV vehicle sales enjoyed a strong month, increasing by 7 percent last month on growing demand for the new and expanded Transit range and the Ranger pickup. It was the best January for Ford CV sales since 2008. Sales of the Transit Connect and Transit 2-tonne were particularly strong, with sales increases of 28 percent and 16 percent, respectively. Our share of the commercial vehicle market was 12.7 percent.

SUVs:

Ford’s drive to increase its SUV sales continued in January, with EcoSport compact SUV sales up 50 percent and Kuga midsize SUV sales increasing by 19 percent. Due to growing demand for its SUVs and with the launch of the new Edge large SUV in the first half of 2016, Ford expects its SUV sales to grow by about 30 percent in 2016 compared with 2015, and to break the 200,000 sold barrier for the very first time in Europe.

Performance:

Combined sales of Ford’s current performance line-up – including the Fiesta ST, Focus ST and Focus ST diesel, and Mustang – almost tripled vs January last year. With the launch of the new Focus RS, Ford expects record sales of performance cars in Europe this year. In total, some 40,000 Ford performance cars are likely to be sold in 2016 – a 50 percent improvement on 2015 which itself saw performance car sales rise by 61 percent.

Outlook:

After increasing market share in each of the past two years and boosting vehicle sales 10 percent in 2015, Ford will launch seven new and refreshed vehicles in Europe during 2016, including the new Kuga and Edge SUVs, Focus RS performance car, new powertrain and technologies for Transit Custom and Transit 2-tonne, and a freshened Ranger pick-up.

* 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.

** The 50 markets include the traditional 20 markets (see above), plus Turkey, Russia, as well as Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Georgia, Gibraltar, Kazakhstan, Kyrgysztan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

Ford Motor Company is a global automotive and mobility company based in Dearborn, Mich. With about 199,000 employees and 67 plants worldwide, the company’s core business includes designing, manufacturing, marketing financing and servicing a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs and electrified vehicles, as well as Lincoln luxury vehicles. At the same time, Ford is aggressively pursuing emerging opportunities through Ford Smart Mobility, the company’s plan to be a leader in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and data and analytics. For more information regarding Ford, its products worldwide or Ford Motor Credit Company, 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/20160212005189/en/