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Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) , Monday, said it is pushing ahead with its outstanding sales performance despite current challenges in the market. The company said it achieved a record-breaking month in August 2016, with the highest number of Ford Rangers exported to date, complemented by continued strong domestic sales for several key models.
The company said, for the month of August, the Ranger, assembled at Ford’s Silverton Assembly Plant in Pretoria, attained its largest export volume on record with a total of 8,548 vehicles shipped to markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
And locally, Ford said it sold a total of 5, 473 vehicles, giving the brand a market share of 13.2 per cent thus enabling the company to grow its year-to-date share by 0.3 percentage points to 14.7 percent.
“The new car market remains under pressure, and this is reflected in the general trend of significantly lower vehicle sales compared to 2015,” said Neale Hill, Ford Director of Marketing, Sales and Service for the Sub-Sahara Africa Region. “However, Ford continues to buck the trend by growing our market share and registering continued high demand for several models, including the Ranger, EcoSport and Fiesta.
“Ford once again emerged as the second best-selling brand through the dealer channel, which is a strong indicator of consumer confidence in our products, services and value proposition,” Hill added.
Industry
The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) put August 2016 aggregate new vehicle sales at 46 146 units with a registered decline of 4 839 vehicles or a fall of 9.5% compared to the 50 985 vehicles sold in August last year.
The new car market, at 30 356 units, reflected a decline of 4 567 cars or a fall of 13.1% compared to the 34 923 new cars sold in August last year. This was again despite a strong contribution by the car rental industry which had accounted for 21.6% of new cars sold during the month.
Domestic sales of industry new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and mini buses at 13 542 units during August, 2016 reflected a decline of 140 units or a fall of 1.0% compared to the 13 682 light commercial vehicles sold during the corresponding month last year.
Commercial vehicles
The Ford Ranger comfortably remained the second best-selling pick-up in the light commercial vehicle segment, with a total of 2 237 vehicles sold in August 2016 – 2 125 of which represented dealer sales.
With the recent launch of the expanded range, which includes the new 2.2 Duratorq TDCi models equipped with a six-speed automatic transmission, Ranger sales are expected to gain further momentum for the balance of the year.
The revised line-up includes the only automatic single cab on the market, giving the Ranger a unique selling proposition in this highly competitive segment.
Passenger cars
Following record-breaking sales for the Ford Fiesta in July, the compact B-segment hatchback secured another impressive month with a final tally of 1 069 units sold.
The ever-popular Ford EcoSport retained its unbroken segment leadership, reaching 1 033 units in August.
