Ford, Still the Leader in the UK

US-based car manufacturer Ford continues to lead the automotive sector in the United Kingdom, after posting sales of 54,500 new cars in September. This represents an increase of 22.2 percent as compared to the same month of 2008, according to official figures provided by Ford. The company was the market leader in the United Kingdom with 14.8 percent of all new car sales and 15.7 percent of total UK vehicle market.

"September is of course a very important month for the British car market. As market leader, we expect to do well, but for us to have achieved a sales increase that was twice as big as the overall market growth proves that, once again, the twin strengths of our new and exciting product range and our tremendous dealer network have enabled us to increase our market share," Nigel Sharp, Ford Britain managing director, said.

The best selling model was the Fiesta, with September 2009 representing the seventh time the model topped monthly sales. Ford has increased its share of the UK car market by 1.7 percentage points to 16.4 per cent, as compared to the same period in 2008. The scrappage scheme in the country added 22,700 registrations over Ford's sales since the official debut in May.

"The importance of the government's scrappage scheme, not least for the automotive supplier base, has been well documented, and we welcome its extension because the underlying level of demand remains weak. In this context, it is gratifying to note that the SMMT have increased their estimate for full year sales for the UK to 1.825 million units (compared with 2.132 million sales in 2008)."