Even if Ford is one of the members of the so-called Detroit 3 (the group struggling to get US government assistance to revamp sales), the American company seems to get back on its feet in Europe where market share rose to 8.4 percent in October 2008 from 8.0 percent in the same month of 2007. Ford of Europe sold 107,600 vehicles in October in its main 19 European markets, which revealed a 12.4 percent decrease when compared to October 2007. But even so, Ford's representatives are very pleased that their sales outperformed the industry's by increasing its market share by 4 tenths, to 8.4 percent.
"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.
Ford's best-sellers are Focus (25,900 units), the new Fiesta (14,600 units) and Mondeo (13,900 units) while in France, First, S-MAX and C-MAX were the best-selling imported models in their class. Even if the sales volume for the first ten months of 2008 is down 5.1 percent, Ford remains an attractive brand, officials said, with a year-to-date market share remaining stable at 8.6 percent.
"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.
For more information regarding Ford's European sales, check out the attached PDF file.
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