(August 17, 2011) COLOGNE, Germany — Ford of Europe said sales in its traditional 19 markets fell 4.4 per cent to 93,700 in July as overall market demand weakened even as the company continued to see strong sales for its new Focus and C-MAX.

In all 51 of its European markets, Ford sales fell 0.9 per cent to 118,300 in July. For the first seven months of the year, Ford sales in those markets totaled 953,800, up 1.3 per cent, boosted by sales gains in Germany, Russia and Turkey.

"Our newest vehicles are breaking through with customers, especially the new C-MAX and Focus, and we are making substantial progress in Germany, Russia and Turkey,” said Roelant de Waard, vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe. “At the same time, demand was fairly soft in July industry-wide, particularly in Southern Europe as concerns about the economy are impacting consumer confidence.”

Ford's market share in its traditional 19 European markets totaled 8.3 per cent for the first seven months of the year, 0.3 percentage points lower in the same period 2010. Ford’s market share in July fell 0.2 percentage points to 8.1 per cent. Ford was Europe’s second best-selling vehicle brand in July and through the first seven months of 2011.

Total sales of the new Ford Focus which was launched in mid-March are now 88,500 units. Sales of the new Ford C-MAX totaled 74,300 units in the first seven months of the year: the best July year-to-date result for the C-MAX since 2007.

In Germany, C-MAX sales were up 245 per cent July versus the same month last year. Total sales of the Ford C-MAX since launch late last year are 87,000 units.

Year-to-date 2011 registrations of the Ford Galaxy and Ford S-MAX models in Ford's traditional 19 European markets jumped 14.4 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively, marking the best volume for both vehicles since 2008.

Year-to-date sales of the Ford Transit — the commercial vehicle industry leader in the UK since its market entry in 1965 — were up 12,700 units or 17.3 per cent in the traditional 19 European markets, at 88,300 units. This was the largest July year-to-date volume for Transit since 2008, and drove its July year-to-date segment share to 13.2 per cent, its highest since 2003.

Ford continued to make strong progress in Germany in July with sales of 20,900 units, up 9.1 per cent from a year ago. For the year, Ford has sold 152,000 new vehicles in Germany, up 17.8 per cent from the same period in 2010. Ford market share in Germany of 7.3 per cent is up from 6.9 per cent a year ago.