2009 Ford Fiesta Sales Explode in Europe

At least this is what Ford claims... Even if the economic recession is still putting pressure on automakers around the world, Ford is continuously praising its European sales, emphasizing that the newly-launched Fiesta brings at least enthusiastic figures. Overall, the company sold approximately 170,000 new Fiestas since the official launch last year, with around 108,000 units delivered only this year. March brought steady figures as well, with around 52,800 Fiestas sold across the main Euro 19 markets.

"It is very encouraging to see Fiesta doing so well and also our market share developing so positively, given the declining market we are continuing to face in Europe," said Ingvar Sviggum, vice-president marketing, sales and service, Ford of Europe.

"With 56 per cent of our March sales generated by retail customers – up from 43 per cent in March 2008 – we have clear evidence of consumer confidence in our Ford product range," he added.

Ford Fiesta was the best-selling model in March in Ford's product lineup, with 52,800 units, followed by Focus (32,300) and Transit (14,100). Britain was the best performing market with 62,300 vehicles (down 21,100 units compared to March 2008), with Fiesta the best-selling model as well.

In Germany, Ford sold a total of 64,800 vehicles, an increase of 16,300 units over the first quarter of 2008 while in Italy the company improved its market share by 1.6 percent to 9.8 percent. In Spain on the other hand sales went pretty bad with Ford delivering a total of 19,800 units, down 22,100 vehicles compared with the same month of the previous year. Nevertheless, Ford Mondeo managed to lead its class in the country in the first quarter of 2009.