| Â | | | | Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, |
| | | | Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, |
| The Ford Motor Company is proving to be | | | | Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and |
| resilient in the face of difficult times. | | | | Switzerland. |
| Though Ford is losing billions in the US and | | | | |
| market share at that, the company is holding | | | | In addition, the automaker serves what they |
| firm in Europe, even increasing its share of | | | | call their European Direct Market where the |
| the sales pie. | | | | automaker bases their share of the market on |
| | | | non-domestic sales volume. These markets are: |
| Through August 2008, Ford saw its market | | | | Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, |
| share in Europe increase from 7.6% to 8.0%, | | | | Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, |
| fueled by its best August in the UK since | | | | Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Gibraltar, |
| 2003 and its best month ever in Germany. | | | | Kazakhstan, Kyrgysztan, Libya, Macedonia, |
| Moreover, across its 19 European markets, | | | | Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Romania, |
| Ford has sold 5500 more cars year to date | | | | Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, |
| than last year, an amazing feat considering | | | | Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan. |
| the economic times we're in. | | | | Finally, Ford includes Turkey and Russia in |
| | | | their non-traditional markets, for a total of |
| "We are pleased to see our market share | | | | 51 markets across Europe and North Africa. |
| growing substantially in many markets despite | | | | |
| lower overall volumes because of the general | | | | For August 2008, the strongest seller for |
| weakness in the industry," said Ingvar | | | | Ford was its Ford Focus followed by its |
| Sviggum, vice president, Marketing, Sales and | | | | previous generation Fiesta. Also in that |
| Service, Ford of Europe. | | | | month, Ford began production of its all-new |
| | | | Fiesta selling 800 models which will only |
| "Given the difficult economic conditions and | | | | increase in the months ahead. The Ford Focus, |
| changing vehicle mix it is even more | | | | Fiesta, Transit, Mondeo, and C-Max are the |
| important that we offer customers an | | | | top five vehicles sold by Ford in the |
| unbeatable portfolio of products, and the new | | | | European market, with only an Americanized |
| Fiesta and Ka models will be valuable | | | | version of the Focus sold stateside. |
| additions to our range," Sviggum said. "Also, | | | | |
| with our new, class-leading ECOnetic line of | | | | Good news for Ford of Europe will likely mean |
| low CO2 emission vehicles we are able to meet | | | | good news for Ford of America especially as |
| growing customer demand for more | | | | Ford starts producing some of its popular |
| fuel-efficient and environmentally-friendly | | | | European models on American, Canadian, and |
| cars." | | | | Mexican assembly lines beginning in 2009. |
| | | | Ford says that six European models will be |
| Ford calculates its sales totals through19 | | | | built in North America, radically reshaping |
| main European markets which includes: | | | | the Blue Oval and hopefully spurring sales |
| Austria, Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, | | | | all across the fruited plains. |