Ford Fiesta sales crack one million

The Ford Fiesta has finally reached the one million sales mark in Europe 28 months after becoming available in European dealerships.

Fiesta sales in the UK alone represent almost a quarter of global sales, with 239,742 units being sold since the Fiesta’s arrival. This has resulted in the Fiesta being the UK and Europe’s best-selling small car for the past two years with it challenging another Ford, the Focus, for the top leadership position in sales.

Chairman and CEO of Ford Europe Stephen Odell said of the feat “To reach the one million sales mark is a significant achievement, but there is much, much more to come as the Ford Fiesta continues to appeal to customers and goes from strength-to-strength in markets throughout Europe.”

The Fiesta is produced in Ford assembly plants in Cologne and Valencia and has become the most successful European-made small car sold in Europe. Global sales figures total over 14 million since the Fiesta’s launch in 1976.

Ford has also released details of the type of customer that buys the Fiesta in the UK:

• Seventy four per cent of Fiesta drivers choose mid or high range models

• Sales are split 30/70 between three- and five- door models.

• The most popular colour is Panther black.

• Seventy six per cent sold are petrol powered

• Automatic transmission sales are growing and now account for almost 10 per cent of all sales

• ECOnetic sales have grown from two per cent in 2009 to six per cent in 2010

• Fiesta Titanium customers will also now have a Sony radio with CD player, USB andBluetooth as standard. The Fiesta Titanium already lists many big-car features, including cruise control and automatic headlights. So far this year, 20 per cent of Fiesta customers have chosen to buy top-of-the-range Titanium models.

• The most popular option, Voice Control, Bluetooth and USB, is added by around 42 per cent of Fiesta customers."