Ford of Europe Posts Best First Quarter Sales Since 2010; Market Share Improves; Remains Europe’s No. 1 CV Brand

Ford 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.

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Ford Motor Company's drive to increase its SUV sales continued in the first quarter, with the EcoSport compact SUV selling 14,600 units in Europe - a 50 percent improvement. (Photo: Business Wire)

Across all of its 50 European markets, Ford sold 401,200 vehicles – up 8.4 percent versus an industry growth of 5.4 percent – 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 percent to 363,500 vehicles. Market share was unchanged at 8.2 percent. 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 percent 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%, and giving the company an 8.7% 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 percent.

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 percent 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% in March and 13.7% in the first quarter, respectively. Ranger sales were up 24 percent, 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%, 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 percent 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 percent increase over the same period last year.

Performance cars:

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 percent, 96 percent, and 18 percent, 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 percent of sales, to 41 percent. 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 percent 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 percent 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 percent.
• Ford 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.

* The 50 markets include the traditional 20 markets (see above), plus Turkey, Russia, as well as Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Georgia, Gibraltar, Kazakhstan, Kyrgysztan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

** Ford of Europe reports its sales for the 20 European main markets where it is represented through National Sales Companies. The Euro 20 markets are: Austria, Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland.

Ford Motor Company is a global automotive and mobility company based in Dearborn, Mich. With about 199,000 employees and 67 plants worldwide, the company’s core business includes designing, manufacturing, marketing financing and servicing a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs and electrified vehicles, as well as Lincoln luxury vehicles. At the same time, Ford is aggressively pursuing emerging opportunities through Ford Smart Mobility, the company’s plan to be a leader in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and data and analytics. For more information regarding Ford, its products worldwide or Ford Motor Credit Company, visit www.corporate.ford.com.

Ford of Europe is responsible for producing, selling and servicing Ford brand vehicles in 50 individual markets and employs approximately 53,000 employees at its wholly owned facilities and approximately 68,000 people when joint ventures and unconsolidated businesses are included. In addition to Ford Motor Credit Company, Ford Europe operations include Ford Customer Service Division and 24 manufacturing facilities (16 wholly owned or consolidated joint venture facilities and 8 unconsolidated joint venture facilities). The first Ford cars were shipped to Europe in 1903 – the same year Ford Motor Company was founded. European production started in 1911.

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