Wednesday, December 17, 2008

November 2008 Sales Release - STRONG PERFORMANCES IN GERMANY AND UNITED KINGDOM BOOST FORD OF EUROPE'S MARKET SHAREIn

In an overall declining market, Ford of Europe further increased its market share in November, by 0.5 percentage points to 8.8 per cent.

Market share performance driven by strong product range, led by new Fiesta
UK market share jumped by over 3.7 percentage points to 18.9 per cent
Germany market share increased for the seventh consecutive month, up by 0.7 percentage points to 7.8 per cent

Ford blue oval firmly established as Europe's No.2 best-selling brand (Euro 19 markets)

COLOGNE, December 15, 2008 – Ford of Europe outperformed the industry in November when its market share across the main Euro 19 markets increased by 0.5 percentage points to 8.8 per cent.

A particular bright spot was the sales performance of the new Fiesta. Since it went on sale two months ago, over 42,200 new Fiestas have already been sold, making it the second most popular model now in the Ford of Europe range.

In November, the Fiesta, including both new and previous model, was the best-selling car in the UK, where its market share was also the strongest since January 1998. It was also the best-selling imported car in Italy.

"We are proud that in such a difficult economic environment we could further increase our market share," said Ingvar Sviggum, vice president, marketing, sales
and service, Ford of Europe. "And we are particularly pleased that through the year we have steadily reinforced our position as the number two brand in the main 19 European markets.

"Our new Fiesta and Ka models are just coming at the right time. After only two months since its introduction, the Fiesta is already our second-best selling model, behind the Focus. In the UK, the Fiesta market share for November was the highest since January 1998 and the new Fiesta attracted 1,000 more retail British buyers than the previous model in November 2007. This is a promising start for our all-new global model," Sviggum added.

November
In November Ford of Europe sold 95,700 vehicles across its 19 European markets. This was down 21.4 per cent vs. November 2007, but the company again outperformed the industry by increasing its market share to 8.8 per cent, up 0.5 percentage points. Already in October, Ford's market share was 0.4 percentage points higher than in October 2007.

Across its 51 European markets, Ford sold 117,000 vehicles, down 24.8 per cent versus the same month last year.

The top selling models in the 19 European markets were the Focus (22,300), the new Fiesta (18,100) and the Mondeo (11,500). In France, the Fiesta, S-MAX and C-MAX were the best-selling imported vehicles in their segments. In Italy, Ford was the leading imported brand with an 8.3 per cent market share (up by 0.4 percentage points).

For the seventh consecutive month this year, Germany achieved significant market share gains. The November share of 7.8 per cent was up 0.7 percentage points compared with the same month last year.

Among other sales highlights for the month, Britain recorded a market-leading 18.9 per cent November share, up by 3.7 percentage points from November 2007. Ireland, where market share soared to 20.2 per cent in November, has the highest market share within the Ford of Europe sales organisation.

2008 Year-to-date
Ford of Europe sold 1,353,100 vehicles in its main 19 European markets in the first 11 months of this year, down 6.4 per cent compared to the same period in 2007.

Year-to-date, Ford's market share is 8.7 per cent, versus 8.6 per cent in the first 11 months of 2007.

Across all of its 51 European markets, the company has sold 1,664,900 units so far this year, down 4.4 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

Britain has been the company's top performing market this year, selling 384,700 vehicles giving it a market share of 16.3 per cent. Germany sold 222,200 vehicles (up 3.8 per cent) and France 132,100 (an increase of 7.0 per cent). Spain - in a very difficult overall market situation - reached a year-to-date market share of 9.3 per cent, up by 0.1 percentage points on 2007. This is the same share as Norway, which increased year-over-year by 1.6 percentage points in the first eleven months of the year, and it is now ranked among Ford's top five European markets. Year-to-date sales in Russia increased by 9.1 per cent, to 167,800.

Ford sales in the European Direct Markets were at 77,100 vehicles in the first eleven months of the year, a 29.9 per cent increase over the same period in 2007.

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