Ford Motor Co. (F) reported an 8.1% year-over-year increase in sales to 98,100 vehicles in its 20 traditional European markets in Oct 2014. With this, the company’s monthly sales outpaced the industry sales growth for the third consecutive month. Year-to-date, Ford’s sales went up 7.8% to one million vehicles. It was the highest January-to-October sales since 2011.
October was the fifth consecutive month to record higher sales volumes and the third successive month with market share improvement in Europe. Ford’s market share went up to 7.8% in October.
The year-over-year improvement was driven by better new car sales, including the EcoSport SUV, along with an improvement in commercial vehicle sales. Ford also performed well in the retail and fleet sectors.
Among the 98,100 vehicles sold in Ford’s 20 traditional European markets in Oct 2014, 76,900 were passenger cars and 21,200 were commercial vehicles. This sales performance helped the automaker to record the best October passenger car sales since 2011.
Better performance in the passenger car range was driven by the Fiesta, Kuga and S-MAX, and Ranger vehicles. Ford sold Transit, Transit Custom, Transit Connect and Transit Courier under the Ford’s Transit commercial vehicle family. These vehicles helped to record the best commercial vehicles sales figure since 2007.
Ford’s commercial vehicle sales jumped 31% in October and 18% to 187,000 vehicles year-to-date. As a result, the market share of commercial vehicles increased to 11.5% in Oct 2014 and 11.3% year-to-date.
Ford’s sales in the higher value retail and fleet segments were 75% of total October sales, which is higher than the industry average. Year-to-date retail and fleet sales were 74% of the total sales, which is higher than the industry average.
Ford recorded higher orders for the new Focus and Mondeo, which will be launching this year. In addition, the company also plans to launch new vehicles next year, including the new Focus ST, S-MAX, C-MAX, Grand C-MAX, Mustang, Edge and more.
Ford currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Better-ranked automobile stocks worth considering include Gentex Corp. (GNTX), Toyota Motor Corporation (TM) and STRATTEC Security Corporation (STRT), each carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Get all Zacks Research Reports and be alerted to fast-breaking buy and sell opportunities every trading day.
Be the first to comment