Ford maintains its sales leadership through the month of June, and for the first half of the year, heading total vehicle, car and commercial vehicle (CV) sales in the UK.
Highlights of the sales figures issued today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) include:
- Ford leads total UK car sales for the year to date (Fiesta 1st and Focus 3rd)
- Transit Custom tops the UK CV sales
- Ford has five models in the UK Top 20 in June – Fiesta (1st), Transit Custom (4th), Focus (7th), Transit (10th) and Kuga (16th)
- Seven Ford models lead their respective segments; Ford Fiesta, Fiesta Van, Transit Courier, Transit Custom, Tourneo Custom, Transit and the Ford Ranger pick-up
Andy Barratt, Ford of Britain chairman and managing director, said: “Fiesta is in its 10th year as the UK’s best-selling car and this month sees the arrival of the new Fiesta ST in dealer showroom, our hottest version yet. Customer don’t have long to wait either until the all-new Focus, our most technologically advanced vehicle, hits the showrooms, it really is an exciting time for us with so many great products coming to market and we are seeing the private buyer respond to that and our retail share increase’.
The official figures released by the SMMT today show that industry car sales in June were down 3.5 per cent to 234,945 units, compared with June 2017, year to date registrations are down 6.3 per cent at 1,401,811 compared with the same period in 2017. Ford is the year to date sales leader, with 145,541 registrations, 32,155 ahead of its nearest rival.
Ford is the clear leader in retail car sales, which most accurately reflect the preferences of private buyers. For June, Ford’s retail car sales share was 12.0 per cent, 3.6 percentage points ahead of its nearest rival, and for the year to date, Ford’s retail car sales share was 12.8 per cent, a lead of 5.0 percentage points and an increase 0.6 per cent over the same period in 2017.
The Ford Fiesta is the UK’s best-seller in June, recording 8,900 registrations, 2,027 sales and 0.9 percentage points of share ahead of its nearest rival. With total registrations of 56,415 for the year to date, the Ford Fiesta is the UK best seller by a significant margin – 16,485 sales and 1.3 percentage points of market share ahead of its nearest competitor. In terms of retail sales, the Ford Fiesta holds a greater advantage over its nearest competitor; year to date its retail share is 6.0 per cent, 3.7 per cent ahead of its nearest rival.
UK light commercial vehicle (LCV) sales in June were down 5.8 per cent at 35,182 compared with June 2017. Ford LCV sales were up 11.9 per cent at 13,188 registrations, up from 11,786 in the same month in 2017.
For the year to date total UK LCV sales were down 2.3 per cent at 180,696, compared with the same period in 2017. Total sales of Ford CVs for the year to date were up 8.2 per cent at 64,393 compared with 2017. Ford’s share of the CV market continued to grow; recording a year to date market share of 35.6 per cent, up from 32.2 per cent in 2017 and 23.6 per cent ahead of its nearest rival.
The Ford Transit Custom is the clear sales leader with 27,734 registrations for the year to date, up 3.1 per cent compared to a year ago and 15,912 sales, and 7.9 per cent of share, ahead of its nearest rival. The Ford Transit is the UK’s second best-selling commercial vehicle with sales up 21.5 per cent in 2018 compare to 2017.
Demand for pick-up vehicles grew 1.6 per cent for the year to date and the Ford Ranger, with segment leadership, recorded sales of 7,930 and 29.1 per cent market share, up 28.5 per cent compared to a year ago.