Ford sales fall explained
July 8th, 2010 by Richard Aucock
FORD has revealed it cut short-cycle rental business in June in order to improve the brand’s residual values.
This tallies with the consolidation of Ford sales, that has seen the previous best-selling Fiesta slip to third place in the UK sales charts.
However, thanks to early-year success, the Fiesta remains the UK’s best seller year-to-date, with its Focus sibling lying in second overall.
Ford says the short-cycle capping hit fleet sales overall, and also saw the brand drop to second place in overall car sales for June.
Nigel Sharp, MD, Ford of Britain, said: ‘In June we took an early decision to cap the volume of short-cycle rental business in order to protect the residual values of vehicles bought by fleet and retail customers.
‘The appeal of our best ever vehicle range is reflected in rising retail sales, boosted by our new pricing strategy, which is leading the market in making the whole purchase process more transparent.’
Ford’s new pricing strategy has seen big reductions in the prices of key models. The aim here is to improve more profitable retail sales. Ford has been criticised recently for the high list prices of its cars.
New prices will come into force on 2 August.
Tags: Ford, registrations, sales, SMMT