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Ford Focussed On Profitability In First Half 2010 As European Industry Weakens

COLOGNE – Despite growing signs of a weakening in the European car market, Ford remained Europe’s second best-selling passenger car brand in the first half of 2010, and continued to be the market leader in the UK, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland and Turkey.

“In the first six months of 2010, Ford customers in Europe continued to be attracted by the appeal of our strongest-ever product range, and we will build upon this success in the rest of the year as we bring to market even more exciting new products and customer-focussed technologies,” said Ingvar Sviggum, vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe.

“The market is weakening as a result of the ending of scrappage schemes and the continuing frailty of the European economic recovery. But we expected this to happen this year, and have a robust plan to deal with the situation. We said we would be competitive in the market but that we would pull back from some business – even at the cost of reduced share and volume – if that business was detrimental to our profitability. “However, we are doing well in growth markets, and increasing our volumes and share in Russia, Turkey and Spain,” he added.

“We will not sacrifice profitability for volume or share, as some of our competitors seem to be doing. We believe such unsustainable heavy discounting only damages brand reputation and further weakens the market. You’ll have to wait until our Second Quarter results later this month to see our latest figures, but we did have a close to $700 million turnaround in our performance for the First Quarter,” said Mr. Sviggum.

June was the third consecutive month of decline in the European new car industry, and Ford’s Euro 19 registrations for the month of 118,800 units were 24,400 lower compared to June 2009. Market share in Ford’s traditional European markets also reduced to 7.8 per cent for the month, 1.2 percentage points down on June 2009.

Fiesta continues to be Europe’s second best-selling new car and Ford’s top-selling new car, with 237,300 units sold during the first half of 2010. Since the latest generation Fiesta went on sale in October 2008, more than 873,000 Fiestas have been purchased by customers around the world, 764,000 of these in Europe.

Production of the Fiesta also started recently in Mexico and Thailand, with the small vehicle now being built in five of Ford’s global production hubs and available on five continents. Highly-acclaimed in Europe and Asia, the Fiesta is the first car to benefit from the ONE Ford global product development system.

Ford first half 2010 vehicle sales in the main 19 European 19 markets
 In the first half of 2010, Ford registered 716,900 vehicles in its traditional 19 European markets, 29,300 units or 3.9 per cent below 2009.

Market share in the main 19 European markets was 8.7 per cent in the first half of 2010, down by 0.5 percentage points when compared with the same period in 2009. Ford’s year-to-date share increased in six of the company’s main 19 European markets.

Ford June and first half 2010 vehicle sales in the Euro 51 markets
Ford of Europe sold 142,500 new vehicles in June, a reduction of 11.4 per cent or a decrease of 18,100 vehicles on the same month 2009. YTD across its 51 markets, 823,700 new vehicles were registered, down by 32,900 on the first six months of 2009. Compared to the first half of 2009, Ford sales were 3.9 per cent lower.

First half 2010 performance

Market Performance:

  • No.2 best-selling passenger car brand in Europe.
  • Market leader in the UK, Denmark, Ireland, Hungary and Turkey.
  • Ford’s share increased in six of its main 19 European markets.
  • Britain’s year-to-date sales volume slightly decreased by 800 units to 188,000 or 0.4 per cent on the first six months of 2009.
  • In France, registrations were at 76,400, up by 100 units or 0.1 per cent on 2009 – the best first half year volume since 1999.
  • Year-to-date June sales volume in Spain rose to 57,500, up by 32.2 per cent or 14,000 on the same period 2009 – the highest first half year volume improvement of all Ford’s Euro 19 markets.
  • Italy’s share in the first half year of 2010 was at 9.7 per cent, slightly down by 0.1 ppts. Year-to-date registrations there were at 123,500 - up by 2,900 units or 2.4 per cent higher on the first six months 2009.
  • Leading import brand in Italy in the first half of 2010.
  • In the first half of 2010, Switzerland reported a volume of 9,600, up by 1,400 units or an increase of 17.4 per cent on the same period 2009 and the highest year-to-date June volume there since 2001.
  • Scandinavian markets continue to perform well in the first half of 2010. Sweden had registrations of 10,100, up by 2,700 units, an increase of 37 per cent on 2009. In Denmark registrations rose 2,300 units or 35.9 per cent to 8,500. Norway’s sales volume was at 6,600, up by 1,300 or an increase of 25.3 per cent on the first half of 2009.
  • The highest share gains of all 19 markets in the first six months of 2010 were in Denmark (+1.1 ppts at 11.1 per cent share, the best June year-to-date share result since 1997), Switzerland (+0.4 ppts to 5.9 per cent, the highest YTD June share since 1999), and Sweden (+0.2 ppts to 6.3 per cent – the best first half share since 2006).
  • In the first six months of 2010, Turkey’s share was at 15.3 per cent, up by 2.1 ppts on the same period 2009.

Model Performance:

  • The three best-selling vehicles year-to-date 2010 were the new Fiesta (237,300), Focus (145,100) and Transit (63,600).
  • In the first half of 2010, new Fiesta sales were slightly down by 600 units on 2009. Remained the best-selling foreign vehicle in Italy in the first half of 2010.
  • 58,800 new Ford Ka vehicles have been delivered to Ford customers this year, up 7,000 units or 13.3 per cent on the first six months of 2009. Share and sales volume were the best since 2002.
  • Kuga has been a hit with customers in the first half of 2010 with sales of 38,900, up by 9,300 or 31 per cent on the first half of 2009.
  • Ford segment-leading in the UK with Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo and Galaxy year-to-date.
  • C-MAX and S-MAX were the best-selling foreign vehicles in their segment in France.
  • Fiesta remained No.1 best-selling car in the UK year-to-date, ahead of the Focus in No.2 position, while Transit was the best-selling commercial vehicle year-to-date 2010.

Source: http://www.ford.com/about-ford/news-announcements/press-releases/press-releases-detail/pr-ford-focussed-on-profitability-in-32957

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