July Ford commercial vehicle sales strongest for six years

Ford commercial vehicles are leading the company's charge towards next month's 57-plate debut by notching up the best sales results for six years.

Performing at their strongest since 2001, Ford commercial vehicles include the iconic Southampton-built Transit – International Van of the Year 2007. In the first seven months of this year 56,682 CV buyers have chosen new Ford Transit, Transit Connect, Fiesta van and Ranger pick-up models.

These Ford commercial vehicles have attracted 14,000 new owners to the brand during their six-year growth surge. Now one in four new CVs registered are Ford-supplied.

Newly launched Ford Ranger models will be buoyed by a 23 per cent rise in Ford pick-up sales in the past year. The company has just recently announced 3.0-litre Double Cab Thunder and Wildtrak additions to the Ranger line-up.

So far this year a total of 272,490 new vehicles sporting Ford's blue oval badge have been delivered to customers. This is more than 8,000 vehicles up on the same time last year – retaining Ford's leading year-to-date position with an improved 16.3 per cent market share.

The majority of customers for Ford's all-new Mondeo are opting for high series trim levels, which mirrors the sales record of the sporty and stylish Ford S-MAX – 2007 Car of the Year. Over half of S-MAX sales are for the top Titanium versions while 45 per cent of customer orders for the new Mondeo are for Ghia, Titanium or Titanium X trim levels – significantly up from the previous model.

Ford's Fiesta and Fusion small car range sales continue to increase year over year. The UK is the biggest market for Fiesta and it is a British Ford Fiesta ST buyer who is taking delivery of the 2,000,000th vehicle to roll off the cars' production line in Cologne, Germany. Fiesta and Fusion sales total 70,627 this year, which is ahead of 2006 at the same time.

Ford of Britain chairman and managing director Roelant de Waard said: "Ford commercial vehicles are taking a quarter of the country's total commercial vehicle sales to provide a solid foundation for Ford's overall market leadership in the UK. Now all eyes are on the arrival of the new '57' number plate next month and our dealerships are gearing up to satisfy demand for Ford's award-winning product range."