Ford Europe’s market share registers double digits since September 2001; Ford Fiesta winning hearts and minds – and wallets

April 16, 2009 at 5:38 pm

(Source: Ford, Autoblog)

Ford of Europe increased its market share in March in the Euro 19 markets to 10.0 per cent, up 0.2 percentage points versus the same month last year, consolidating its position as Europe’s number two best-selling brand.

This is the first time Ford of Europe’s market share has been in double digits since September 2001 and it continues the company’s upward trend.

In total in March Ford of Europe sold 163,000 vehicles in the Euro 19 markets and 
increased market share in 16 out of its 19 main European markets, with only France, Spain and Switzerland showing declines. 
“It is very encouraging to see Fiesta doing so well and also our market share developing so positively, given the declining market we are continuing to face in Europe,” said Ingvar Sviggum, vice-president marketing, sales and service, Ford of Europe.

“With 56 per cent of our March sales generated by retail customers – up from 43 per cent in March 2008 – we have clear evidence of consumer confidence in our Ford product range,” he added.

According to Autoblog, in all but three of Europe’s 19 markets, Ford says it has improved its showing. Already this year, there have been 108,000 Fiestas sold, with 52,800 of those coming in March alone. The market share triumph is even sweeter seeing that overall industry sales took a double-digit fall, but Ford is getting more of what’s left. There was no cheating with fleet sales, either: retail sales were up 13% year-on-year. Only France, Switzerland, and Italy showed declines.
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