Ford expects new models to sustain European sales growth

COLOGNE: Ford is counting on new models and stabilising markets to boost its European sales this year, after deliveries in the region rose 6.6 per cent in April on growing demand in Britain, France and Spain.

Deliveries in the so-called Euro-20 economies, including the key auto markets of Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Spain, rose to 99,700 vehicles last month from 93,500 a year earlier, according to Ford sales data seen by Reuters.

The company's European sales were powered by a 14 per cent gain for the Fiesta sub-compact, as well as improved demand for the Kuga compact sports utility vehicle and the Tourneo Connect minivan, the data showed.

The second-biggest US carmaker, in the middle of a busy product cycle in which it aims to introduce 25 new models in Europe over the next five years, delivered 31,100 vehicles in its top British market, up 11.5 per cent year on year.

Sales in Spain, Ford's fifth-biggest European market, jumped by 41 per cent surge, while Germany deliveries remained flat at 21,600 vehicles.

"Sales in Western Europe are starting to improve modestly and we have been consistently outpacing the industry thanks to a fresh product line," Ford's European sales chief Roelant de Waard told Reuters. "From now on we'll see steady growth."

Four-month sales were up 10 per cent at 397,600 cars, the figures showed. Ford is planning to publish the data on Thursday.

Europe has dragged on Ford's profit for several years, but it more than halved losses in the region in the first quarter to $194 million from $425 million last year.