(February 15, 2011) COLOGNE, Germany — Ford's sales in Europe were stable in January, with strong sales in Eastern Europe, Russia and Turkey offsetting a decline in Ford's Euro 19 traditional Western Europe markets. Ford's sales volume in its total 51 European markets was at 114,100 units, slightly up by 100 units on January 2010.

Ford's sales volume in Russia increased by 24 per cent, while Eastern European sales rose by 37 per cent and Turkish sales by 122 per cent — the best Ford sales volume in Turkey for more than a decade, at 7,300 units.

The increased sales volume in these markets helped to offset a lower volume in Ford's traditional 19 markets, where sales were 99,700 units, down 5,500 units or 5.2 per cent.

Ford's passenger car share was 8.2 per cent, a reduction of 0.2 percentage points from the same month in 2010, while total vehicle share was 8.3 per cent, half a per cent lower than in January 2010.

Ford C-MAX best
seller in Europe

"Turkey had a great month — the best in more than a decade — with sales more than doubled, while Eastern Europe and Russia also showed very healthy sales growth in January," said Roelant de Waard, vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe. "Despite a small decline overall in Western Europe, I'm very pleased that our share was up in several markets, including the important large markets of Germany and Britain."

The all-new C-MAX — which is still being launched across Europe — has already sold over 22,000 units after just three months. Ford's other freshened models such as the S-MAX and Galaxy are developing strong momentum, and the all-new Ford Focus reaches the first Ford dealer showrooms in March.   

"2011 is a major year for us in terms of new product; approximately 40 per cent of our volume in Europe will be sales of all-new or significantly freshened models. Add to this the introduction of at least 20 new models or derivatives and an array of new technologies over the next three years — and you may see why we feel confident about Ford's future in Europe as we move forward," said de Waard.