Ford sales up 24% in third quarter on new lineup

MANILA, Philippines - Ford Philippines registered a 24 percent quarter-on-quarter growth vehicle sales in the third quarter despite the challenging business environment, the company’s top official said.

“We have one of the freshest lineups of new products in the country,” Ford Philippines president Rick Baker said. “Our product portfolio now boasts of new and significantly freshened vehicles that are class-leading in quality, fuel efficiency, safety and value. Our sales results reflect that our Filipino consumers continue to appreciate Ford’s efforts to produce vehicles they want and value.”

A total of eight new vehicles have been added to Ford Philippines’ portfolio over the last year. These are the new Escape in September 2008 and Focus in November 2008, and over the past nine months, the 2009 Expedition, the new Explorer and E-150 Club Wagon, the new Ranger, Everest, and most recently, the Ranger Wildtrak.

The new Ford Everest leads the pack with 616 units sold in the third quarter, up 41 percent compared to the second quarter. A month after the 2009 Everest was relaunched last June, it achieved its best-ever monthly sales since the vehicle was first introduced in 2003.

Other models topped their second quarter sales with Ford Focus closing with a 43 percent increase, the Ford Ranger posting a 14 percent increase, and the E-150 Club Wagon reporting a 23 percent increase.

Sales of Ford Escape and Ford Expedition likewise continue to trend positively, with an increase of 17.5 percent in Escape sales and 19.3 percent increase in Expedition’s sales.

In the third quarter, Ford announced the completion of its largest-ever fleet sales order to Ford Motor Indonesia (FMI), exporting a total of 577 Philippine-made Ford Focus units for the Indonesian National Police Force as part of its 2009 fleet program.

As the first and only volume exporter of completely-built units (CBU) vehicles in the Philippines, the 577 Ford Focus units purchased are manufactured in Ford’s Sta. Rosa, Laguna plant.

“We are delighted with the progress of our CBU export program in light of this year’s more challenging environment,” Baker said. “Ford Philippines is the only domestic manufacturer with a CBU export program, and we remain committed to deliver high quality vehicles to our neighboring ASEAN markets,” he added.