Ford leads Welsh new car market again

Welsh motorists bought more new Ford cars than any other make in 2005, official figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders confirm.

The Blue Oval secured first and second in Wales' top ten new cars. Ford Focus, the UK's favourite car for seven years, was number one with 5,627 units sold in 2005.

Ford Fiesta, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, took second place. The Ford Ka city car was sixth (3,155 registrations) and Mondeo tenth (1,852).

The four cars' combined total of 15,710 units accounted for 46.5 per cent of the volume achieved by the top ten cars.

In a total Welsh market of almost 91,000 units registrations, Blue Oval-badged models took a share of more than 17 per cent. Ford has repeated its 2004 success as car market leader in the region. The Ford Focus and Fiesta were also top two cars 12 months ago, with Ka third.

Mark Deans, Ford of Britain's southern region sales director commented: "Welsh market leadership is a title we are intent on keeping, especially when it is matched by best-in-class customer satisfaction. Retaining the sales crown in what was a particularly competitive year is very satisfying and is testament to the quality of our products and the strength of the Ford dealership network across Wales.

"Ford has made a flying start to an exciting and busy year which will see us launch five new products. The 2006 Ford Fiesta and Fusion now on sale will help us celebrate 30 years of supermini success since the first Fiesta model arrived on Wales' roads in 1976."

All UK-built Ford petrol engines are manufactured at Bridgend Plant, which employs 1,500 people and produces more than 620,000 units a year. The plant's customers include Ford-owned luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover. Ford Bridgend's rising capacity is on track to top one million engines a year by 2010.