Ford Boosts Share in Weakened January Market

Ford is currently busy celebrating its centennial in the UK. However it isn’t too busy to boost its share across almost its entire range during a weak January market. The company managed to secure 16.4 percent of the vehicle sector during last month, up 0.7 percentage points compared to a year ago.

The recently released figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show the market contracted 11.5 percent to 128,811 units in January. This is largely due to the fact that the UK scrappage scheme that was in effect in January 2010 has ended.

In Ford’s case, sale decreased to 19,657 units, down from 22,128 cars in January 2010. Yet, the overall market share was up from 15.2 to 15.3 per cent. More significantly, Ford's retail car market share in January was 13.1 percent, 0.9 points up from the same month in 2010.

The British certainly love their Fords, as the Focus was the UK sales leader in January, pushing the Fiesta into 2nd place for the first time since May 2010. The company sold 7,582 Focus models, up from 6,953 in January 2010, and it also increased its share of car sales from 4.8 percent to 5.9 percent.

"We have kicked off our centenary year with a strong sales performance right across the Ford range of cars and commercials.  The all-round appeal of our vehicles is more evident than ever, supported by an unrivalled dealer network.  Importantly though, Ford is maintaining its discipline in an intensely competitive market by strengthening the quality of our market share, as indicated by increases in our retail and commercial sales, and we expect another uplift from the launch of the exciting, new Ford Focus in March," Nigel Sharp, Ford Britain managing director, stated.