Ford sales up 7.7% in Europe in first quarter of 2021
Apr. 19—Ford Motor Co. sold 259,809 vehicles in Europe in the first quarter of 2021, a 7.7% increase over the same period last year0, when the onset of the coronavirus pandemic shuttered factories and dampened consumer demand.
The results, released Monday, include sales in 20 European markets: Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland.
According to a news release from the automaker, its Q1 results beat the industrywide sales improvement of 4.4%.
And in a reflection of the crisis that took hold last March and the recovery that's taken place since then, Ford Europe's March sales were up more than 70% year-over-year.
The Blue Oval's market share in the region was 7.2% for the quarter.
Sales for the quarter were up from the same period last year in most of the automaker's top European markets, including Great Britain, Italy and France. Sales in its No. 2 market, Germany, however, were down more than 20%.
Among Ford's passenger vehicle offerings in the regions, one of the highlights for the quarter was the Ford Puma, a compact crossover vehicle the automaker unveiled in late 2019. Puma sales were up more than 50%. Ford reported that the vehicle was the segment leader in the United Kingdom and Italy.
The Kuga compact crossover was another bright spot, with sales up from just over 30,000 units in the first quarter of 2020 to nearly 55,000 units in Q1 of 2021.
Meanwhile, Ford reported a just over 1% sales improvement in North America — its largest and most profitable market — in the first quarter. It reported 73.3% sales growth in China for the same period.
Twitter: @JGrzelewski
