Ford brand vehicles in Europe, led by double-digit gains of the Ford Fiesta and Ford Transit, reported November retail sales of 144,700 units, an increase of 15 per cent, or 19,300 vehicles, above the prior year. Total Ford retail sales between January and November 2006 were 1,594,400 units, up 52,600 units or three per cent versus last year. The results give Ford a market share of 8.8 per cent for the month, up 0.7 points from November 2005. Year-to-date share is 8.8 per cent, equal to the statistics for the prior year. Fiesta sales in November were 28,900, an increase of more than 20 per cent from November 2005. In the first 11 months of 2006, Ford of Europe sold 347,800 Fiestas, up nine per cent from the same period in 2005. Together with the Ford Fusion, sales of Ford’s small cars in the first 11 months of 2006 total 444,000 units, a gain of more than 10 per cent from the same period in 2005.There were strong results as well for Ford’s commercial vehicle range, with the Transit, Van of the Year 2007, achieving some 18,900 registrations in November, a 3,000 unit or 19 per cent increase over last year. The company sold more than 300,000 commercial vehicles in the January to November period, 9,300 or three per cent more than in 2005.

The company’s overall sales performance was bolstered by strong retail sales of the new Ford S-MAX, recently named Car of the Year 2007. Together with the Galaxy, Ford has already sold 56,000 people movers in 2006, 24,000 vehicles or 76 per cent more than in 2005, when only the first generation Ford Galaxy was available. Ford’s most successful European market in November was again Britain, with 31,600 units and a market share of 16.9 per cent, up 2.7 per cent versus last year. With that performance, Ford is on course for 30 consecutive years as the UK’s top-selling car brand.

In November, Ford also increased its sales and share in France, Italy and Spain. Other country highlights include Russia, where the company sold 13,700 units in November, 7,400 vehicles or more than double the 5,300 from last year. These sales give Ford an import market share for the month of 19.7 per cent versus 12.4 per cent in 2005, making it the best-selling “import” brand in that country.