Ford sales accelerate

Ford’s record April was led by continued strong demand for the Ranger pickup, the Focus compact car and the Fiesta sub-compact.

The Ranger remained its best-selling model in April, with retail sales that jumped 56 per cent from a year ago to 1,800. Year-to-date sales of the Ranger have soared 94 per cent versus the first four months of last year to 8,524.

“Strong demand for the all-new Ranger has continued through the first four months of the year - including a significant uptick in orders for manual transmission variants - as the versatility and capability of this extraordinary pickup is appealing to such a wide range of customers and lifestyles,” said Ford Thailand managing director Yukontorn “Vickie” Wisadkosin.

The Focus continued to gain traction in April with retail sales rising nearly five-fold year-over-year from the previous generation Focus to 641 cars. Increasing demand for the 1.6-litre all-new Focus helped support the strong monthly sales of the nameplate.

“The smart technologies and features of the all-new Focus have significantly raised the bar in the compact segment. We’re seeing strong demand for both the 2.0L and 1.6L variants, both of which feature Ford’s award-winning Sync technology,” explained Yukontorn.

In April, Ford announced that the Focus retained its title as the world’s top-selling car in 2012, according to figures from sales tracker RL Polk & Co.

However, Toyota quickly came out to counter the announcement, saying that it sold more Corollas, which also has other variants not counted by Polk, such as the Corolla Rumion tall hatchback sold in Japan.

Nevertheless in Thailand, overall year-to-date sales of the all-new Focus have risen a massive 214 per cent from the same period last year to 2,278 cars.

Strong demand for the segment-leading Ford Fiesta continued in April, with retail sales increasing 32 per cent year-over-year to 1,586 cars. Firmly established as one of the leaders of the small car segment, year-to-date sales of Fiesta have risen more than 11 per cent to 7,948.

Ford is also continuing its aggressive expansion of its nationwide dealer network, which will reach 140 locations by the end of this year. 

“Our network expansion plan is on track, and we are continuing to work closely with each of our dealers to upgrade all facilities nationwide to meet Ford’s global Brand@Retail standards,” said Ford Thailand dealer development director Narong Sritalayon.