COLOGNE, Germany – Ford has achieved its best first quarter total vehicles sales in Europe since 2010; best passenger car sales since 2011; and best commercial vehicle sales since 1993. Ford also continued to outpace auto industry growth on the strength of rising demand for its SUVs, commercial vehicles, performance cars and large cars.

Across all of its 50 European markets, Ford sold 401,200 vehicles – up 8.4 per cent versus an industry growth of 5.4 per cent – and driving Ford’s market share up 0.3 percentage points to 8.0 percent.

Vehicle sales in Ford’s 20 European traditional markets rose 8.5 per cent to 363,500 vehicles. Market share was unchanged at 8.2 per cent. Ford remains the No. 2 brand in Europe.

“There’s a growing sense of excitement about Ford in Europe, from the new Mustang and Focus RS, to our growing SUV line-up, to our best-selling commercial vehicles,” said Roelant de Waard, vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe. “We’re reaching more customers, and importantly, we’re winning over even more retail and business fleet customers who are increasingly choosing highly-equipped Ford vehicles.”

Ford’s sales in higher value sales channels improved in the first quarter. Retail and fleet sales accounted for 75 per cent of Ford’s car sales in the first quarter – 2 percentage points better year-over-year, and 6 percentage points better than the industry average.

March sales:
Ford sold 191,500 vehicles across its 50 European markets in March, up 4.3 per cent, and giving the company an 8.7 per cent market share, up 0.1 percentage points on March 2015. Across its 20 European traditional markets, Ford sold 174,800 vehicles, up 3.7 percentage points, and achieved a market share of 8.9 per cent.

Commercial vehicles:
Ford was Europe’s No. 1 commercial vehicle brand in March and in the first quarter. It was the best first quarter for Ford CV sales in its traditional markets since 1993. Ford CV sales grew 17.3 per cent to 40,000 units in March, and 14.4 percent to 80,900 units in the first quarter on increased demand for the expanded Transit range and the Ranger pickup.

Ford’s CVs achieved market-leading shares of 15.6 per cent in March and 13.7 per cent in the first quarter, respectively. Ranger sales were up 24 per cent, resulting in the best first quarter for Ranger since launch in 1998 and making it the best-selling pick-up in Europe. The Transit is Europe’s best-selling CV nameplate in the combined 1- and 2-tonne market segment. With a sales increase of 30 per cent, the Transit Connect had its best first quarter sales since the nameplate was launched in 2008.

SUVs:
Ford’s drive to increase its SUV sales continued in the first quarter, with the EcoSport compact SUV selling 14,600 units – a 50 per cent improvement year-over-year. Kuga sales enjoyed their best-ever first quarter sales, with 30,700 customers around Europe buying Ford’s mid-size SUV, equating to a 23 per cent increase over the same period last year.

Performance cars:
OREANDA-NEWS. April 15, 2016. Combined sales of Ford’s performance line-up – the Fiesta ST, Focus ST, Focus ST diesel, Focus RS and Mustang – more than doubled versus the first quarter 2015. With the launch of the Focus RS which has already secured 5,700 customer orders since last September, Ford expects record sales of performance cars in Europe this year.

Customer orders across Europe for the Mustang now stand at 16,600 since its introduction in the third quarter last year. The Mustang beat its rivals to become Germany’s No.1 top-selling sports car in March, according to data published by the German Federal Motor Transport Authority, the KBA.

Large Cars:
Sales of S-MAX, Galaxy and Mondeo were up 161 per cent, 96 per cent, and 18 per cent, respectively.

High Specification model sales:
The first quarter also saw an increase in the sale of higher specification Ford models. Sales of top of the standard range Titanium specification models were up 8 percentage points in Ford’s 20 European traditional markets, from 34 per cent of sales, to 41 per cent. All high series models – Titanium models, Mondeo Vignale, Fiesta ST, Focus ST petrol and diesel, and Fiesta and Focus Red/Black Editions – accounted for 60 per cent of Ford passenger car sales in the first quarter, up 4 percentage points on the first quarter 2015.

More new Ford vehicles in 2016:
Ford has increased its market share in both of the past two years and continues to further expand its line-up in key market segments in 2016:

Ford will bolster its SUV line-up with the launch of new Kuga and Edge in the second half of the year. Combined with the growing demand for the Kuga and EcoSport, Ford expects its SUV sales to grow by about 30 per cent in 2016 compared with 2015, and to break the 200,000 sales barrier for the first time in Europe.

In the performance segment, the all-new Fiesta ST200 goes on sale later this year, and follows the recent launch of the Focus RS. In total, around 40,000 Ford performance cars are expected to be sold in 2016 – a 50 percent improvement on 2015, which itself saw performance car sales rise by 61 per cent.

Ford also is expanding its upscale Vignale line with three new models this year – S-MAX Vignale, Edge Vignale and Kuga Vignale – joining the Mondeo Vignale which went on sale in 2015. By 2017, Ford will have five Vignale models in the market.

The KA+ goes on-sale later this year to meet the growing demand for value-priced small cars.