Ford New Vehicle Sales in Europe Rise 18% in February, Gains Share on Strong SUV, Transit and Large Car Sales

Ford continued to outpace European auto industry growth in February on the strength of rising demand for its SUVs, commercial vehicles and large cars.

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Ford of Europe’s drive to increase its SUV sales continued in February, with the EcoSport compact SUV and Kuga midsize SUV sales increasing by more than one-third. Due to growing demand for its SUVs and with the launch of the all-new Edge large SUV in the first half of 2016, 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 ever in Europe. (Photo: Business Wire)

Ford sold 91,700 vehicles in February in its 20 traditional European markets, up 18 percent over last year and the company’s best February sales since 2010. Outpacing industry growth of 14 percent, Ford saw its market share in February increase by 0.3 percentage points to 7.5 percent.

Across all of its 50 European markets, Ford sold 104,500 vehicles – up 17 percent vs an industry growth of 10 percent – and driving Ford’s market share up 0.4 percentage points to 7.3 percent.

“Ford of Europe is off to a very fast start to 2016 and we are growing even faster than the industry,” said Roelant de Waard, vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe. “We are growing and gaining market share with our fresh cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles, and -- unlike much of the industry -- we are pulling back from rental car sales and dealer self-registrations that can erode brand value and residuals.”

Sales channels:

Ford’s sales in higher value sales channels were markedly up in February. Retail and fleet sales accounted for 75 percent of Ford’s car sales in February – 7 percentage points better than the industry average.

Commercial vehicles:

Ford CV vehicle sales enjoyed a strong month, increasing by 17 percent in February on growing demand for the new and expanded Transit range and the Ranger pickup. It was the best February for Ford CV sales since 1993. Ranger sales were up 26 percent, and sales of the Transit Connect increased 54 percent. Our share of the commercial vehicle market was 11.7 percent.

SUVs:

Ford’s drive to increase its SUV sales continued in February, with the EcoSport compact SUV and Kuga midsize SUV sales increasing by more than one-third. Due to growing demand for its SUVs and with the launch of the all-new Edge large SUV in the first half of 2016, 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 ever in Europe.

Large Cars:

Mondeo sales were up 19%, whilst sales of S-MAX more than tripled and Galaxy more than doubled vs the same month last year.

Performance:

Combined sales of Ford’s current performance line-up – including the Fiesta ST, Focus ST and Focus ST diesel, and Mustang – almost tripled vs February last year. With the launch of the new Focus RS, Ford expects record sales of performance cars in Europe this year. In total, some 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.

Year-to-date sales:

With total vehicle sales of 188,700 vehicles in its 20 traditional European markets, it was the best combined January/February period for Ford since 2010. This was a 13 percent increase compared with the first two months 2015, and about 3 percentage points better than industry growth. Ford market share increased by 0.2 percentage points to 7.7 percent.

Across all of its 50 European markets, Ford sold a total of 209,800 vehicles – up 12.5 percent vs an industry growth of just 6.5 percent – and driving Ford’s market share up 0.4 of a percentage point to 7.4 percent.

Outlook:

Ford, which gained market share in 2014 and 2015, announced last week at the Geneva Motor Show it is further expanding its line-up in key market segments.

• Ford will bolster its SUV line-up with the launch of new Kuga and Edge in the second half of the year.
• In the performance arena, Ford begins delivering the new Focus RS to dealers this month and the new Fiesta ST200 later in the year.
• Ford is expanding its upscale Vignale line with three new models this year – S-MAX Vignale, Edge Vignale and Kuga Vignale. Mondeo Vignale went on sale last year
• An all-new vehicle called KA+ will go on sale later this year taking to meet growing demand for value-priced small cars.

* 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.

** 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 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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