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Ford Reported Diminished Sales in Europe

Ford of Europe registered a 16.3 percent drop in new car sales in the first half of 2009 in Europe, yet some good news did come from Ford's main 19 European markets, which in June saw the first year-on-year monthly increase since December.

While June was a more positive month, we're still a long way from a sustained and healthy market”, said Ford Europe's head of marketing, sales and service, Ingvar Sviggum.

Ford's first-half sales decreased by 163,700 units to 840,400 in its 51 European markets, including Russia and Turkey. Sales dropped by 90,200 or 11 percent to 733,000 in its 19 main European markets.

June sales were down 8.8 percent to 160,000 in the 51 markets and were up by 1.6 percent or 2,300 units to 142,700 in the 19 main markets.

Sviggum said that the restriction of access to affordable credit and the continuing fears over rising unemployment “continue to be huge hurdles to the market demand for new vehicles”. He also called upon the European Union to encourage scrappage schemes throughout its member states. These programs offer buyers incentives to swap older cars for new models, but at the cost of cutting down funding from other areas financed by that country's GDP.

Ford's best segment is represented by the small- and mini-car range in Europe, as they are helped the most by the scrappage schemes.

In the first half of 2009 more Fiestas were sold compared to all of 2008, but that could also come from the fact Ford just introduced the new Fiesta model.

In the UK Ford stays No. 1 and No. 2 on a global scale, managing sales of 36,000 units in June, down 1,200 compared to June 2008. Sales were up by 6,800 units to 30,800 in Germany, while in France sales rose by 600 units to 16,300. In Italy Ford kept its position as No. 1 import brand after increasing its sales by 3,900 units to 20,600.
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