Despite Declining Sales, Ford Manages To Increase Market Share In Europe

As Ford prepares to release its sales results for February 2012, we managed to scoop some sales figures for The Blue Oval’s European operations for the month of January.

Comprehensively, Ford had an 8.4 percent market share in January 2012 in Europe — an increase of 0.2 percent compared to January 2011. The gain follows three consecutive quarters of market share gains for the automaker. However, sales were down 5 percent year-over-year to 94,100 units, beating the 7.2 percent slump experienced by the industry as a whole — which ran at an annualized rate of 14 million vehicles (January 2012) versus 16.2 million (January 2011).

Additionally, Ford is Europe’s second-best-selling auto brand and increased its market share in 10 European market-regions in January. Here’s a brief breakdown of The Blue Oval’s sales performance across the continent:

UK

• Ford’s largest market in Europe (by volume)
• Ford is the best-selling auto brand in the UK, with a market share of 16.1 percent (down 0.2 percent on January 2011)
• 23,700 sales in January 2012, down 600 units or 2.5 percent on January 2011

Germany

• Ford’s second-largest market in Europe (by volume)
• Market share of 7.3 percent — unchanged from January 2011
• 17,000 sales in January 2012, down 1 percent on January 2011

Italy

• Ford’s third-largest market in Europe (by volume)
• Ford is Italy’s top-imported brand
• 12,300 sales in January 2012 vs. 16,000 in January 2011 — down 23 percent

France

• Ford’s fourth-largest market in Europe (by volume)
• Market share of 5.5 percent – up 0.6 percent from 4.9 percent last January

Russia

• Ford’s fifth-largest market in Europe (by volume)
• Market share up 1.8 percent to 4.5 percent
• 6,500 sales in January 2012, up 80.2 percent on January 2011

Eastern Europe

• 3,700 sales in January 2012, up 16.6 percent on January 2011

Hungary

• Ford is the best-selling auto brand in Hungary

Overall

Registrations for new Ford vehicles in 51 European region markets were down 4.3 percent, or 4,800 units — to 108,600 units in January 2012 compared to January 2011. Ford sees the continual weakening of the economy and, subsequently the auto industry, as a concern.

“The further weakening of the European industry, however, is a concern and illustrates why decisive action is needed to restore economic stability and improve consumer confidence,” said Roelant de Waard, Vice President, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe.

The Motrolix Take

Even though the economy (and auto industry) is down as a whole, Ford still managed to increase market share — a true testament to the superior nature of its vehicles — something consumers obviously prize and value. In effect, The Blue Oval fell with the rest of the industry, but slid at a slower rate — thereby gaining 0.2 percentage of market share.