Ford top in Cork and Limerick
THE January 2017 New Car Sales results certainly made pleasant reading for the staff at Cavanaghs of Charleville when they were published on the first day of February. It showed that as well as Ford being the top selling make in Cork and Limerick, it also had the top selling car model (Focus) and the top selling commercial model (Transit) giving the ‘Blue Oval’ a clean sweep in both counties.
Ford was comfortably the biggest selling car make in Cork selling 700 new units in January some distance ahead of its nearest rival Toyota. In Limerick, things were a little bit closer with Ford maintaining its top position and Toyota again taking second. In model terms, Ford Focus was the leading model in both counties showing it continues to be a very popular choice amongst a large number of Irish motorists. Overall the new car sales market in Ireland was down very slightly on last year, finishing the month 1.7% lower than the corresponding month in 2016.
On the Commercial front – which is often seen as a barometer of how Irish industry is performing – overall commercial vehicle sales were also down on the same month in 2016 which was widely anticipated. Ford, however, was very dominant in both Cork and Limerick, with Transit the most popular commercial model in both counties by some distance.
Commenting on the results, Martin Condon, MD of Cavanaghs of Charleville had this to say: “I feel these results are validation of what Ford has been doing over the last number of years and this strategy is starting to bear fruit. Ford now has the strongest product range on Irish roads today – both in passenger and commercial terms. The quality of the product has also been improving year on year and this is winning it even more customers. The reliability factor is also better than ever before and this is borne out by Ford now offering a 7 year warranty on its entire passenger car range – a move that has given huge confidence to the buying motorist.”
When you combine both the passenger car and commercial market in Ireland, Ford is now the clear market leader selling over 6,000 new units in January - a full one thousand units ahead of its nearest rival Toyota. This will be welcome news to Ford Ireland which is celebrating its 100th year anniversary of operation in Ireland ensuring it gets off to the best possible start in its centenary year.