Ford's October 2010 Worldwide Sales Breakdown

[ausrutherford]

Ford's October 2010 Worldwide Sales Breakdown
A Tribute to the Messenger of the Gods
www.fordinsidenews.com
December 4, 2010
By: Austin Rutherford

During the month of October, one of Ford’s most storied brands stopped production. It had been hurting for products for years and this was the time that the Ford family and Ford management agreed to end its 71 years of life.

In the late 1930’s, Ford Motor Company’s President, Edsel Ford, came up with an idea for an intermediate brand between the Ford and Lincoln brands. In 1939, this idea came true with the birth of the brand Mercury.

Even though its founder died just four short years later, Mercury lived and thrived through post-war America as a brand who was step down from Lincoln, but with a sporty flare. Some of the most storied Mercury models came out of this time until the gas crisis of the 1970’s. This is when Mercury moved to the higher than Ford strategy which served it until the present day.

Mercury’s fall from grace started during the 80s with the ever increasing number of Ford rebadges in its ranks. By 2003, all Mercury’s had become rebadges and the end had begun. With many of its models already scheduled to end production, the end of the brand was also announced this past May to free up production money for Lincoln.

Arguably, the most legendary Mercury’s came out of the 1960’s with the era of cheap gas and fast cars. In the beginning of the decade, the Comet and stood out of the crowd and brought in new buyers who wanted that luxurious, but yet sporty feel. This lead to what is considered by most to be the best nameplate under the Mercury seal, the Cougar.

With the highly successful Mustang flying of the lots, Ford felt that they needed a luxury Pony Car to complement it. What was born was the 1967 Cougar. With its waterfall grille, hidden headlamps, and powerful engines, accolades quickly rolled in like Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award in the same year which led it to be a huge sales success.

The Mercury brand might be closing down, but that does not mean it will not be closing down in our memories. Just as it is the “Messenger to the Gods,” be a messenger to its legacy.


New developments in October were:

1. Sales of the World Fiesta in Australia and New Zealand started to be sourced from Thailand.
2. Sales of the World Fiesta and the new S-Max commenced in Argentina.
3. The Fusion Hybrid started sales in Mexico.
4. The Kuga started sales in Japan.


Now to the breakdown…

Markets adding to the sales’ count this month were Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark , Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungry, India, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Since it was revealed that a Landwind sale is a Ford sale, Landwind sales are now included.


Model Breakdown

BD-Series/Baodian - Unknown
Mark LT - Unknown
61) Fenghua- 1
60) Boarding - 1
59) Fashion/CV9 - 44
58) Convey/Carrying/Qingka - 90
57) T4 - 116
56) I-Max - 191
55) Econovan - 248
54) Heavy Trucks - 285
53) Indian Ikon - 301
52) Baowei - 317
51) 50) Endeavor/Everest - 346
49) Mountaineer - 491
48) Bantam - 508
47) Courier - 602
46) MkT - 607
45) EU Cargo - 742
44) Navigator - 775
43) Territory - 891
42) Asian Escape - 915
41) SA F-Series - 988
40) Town Car - 1,001
39) X6/X8/X9 - 1,005
38) MkS - 1,150
37) Indian Fiesta/S.African Ikon - 1,387
36) Euro Fusion - 1,642
35) Grand Marquis - 1,693
34) SA Cargo - 1,906
33) MkZ - 1,934
32) Galaxy - 2,102
31) C-Max - 2,177
30) MkX - 2,202
29) Milan - 2,217
28) Flex - 2,276
27) Crown Victoria - 2,331
26) LA Ranger - 2,721
25) Expedition - 2,928
24) Mariner - 3,077
23) World Ranger - 3,198
22) Falcon - 3,336
21) Explorer - 4,414
20) S-Max - 5,208
19) NA Ranger - 5,283
18) Euro Ka - 5,302
17) EcoSport - 5,581
16) Mustang - 5,689
15) Kuga - 5,730
14) Taurus - 5,871
13) Figo - 7,753
12) E-Series - 8,004
11) S.American Ka - 8,203
10) Transit Connect - 9,142
9) Edge - 11,596
8) Mondeo - 12,507
7) NA Focus - 13,832
6) Transit - 14,818
5) World Escape - 18,271
4) World Fusion - 19,556
3) World Focus - 49,489
2) World/LA Fiesta - 55,592
1) World F-Series/Lobo - 57,197


Sales by Category

Cars
City - 5,302
Sub-Compact - 77,237
Compact - 63,321
Mid-Size - 36,214
Full-Size - 15,382

Utility Vehicles including MPVs
Sub-Compact - 7,223
Compact - 32,014
Mid-Size - 26,413
Full-Size - 6,586

Utility Vans
Compact - 9,142
Mid-Size - 248
Full-Size - 22,822

Trucks
Sub-Compact - 1,110
Compact - 11,202
Full-Size - 58,185
Class 6+ Truck - 285
Cab-Over - 2,648

Specialty
Pony Car - 5,689

[SobeSVT]

So exactly how many new 1967 Mercury Cougars Ford sold worldwide in October?

[ausrutherford]

Its just a small tribute since Mercury production stopped during the month.

[SobeSVT]

Its just a small tribute since Mercury production stopped during the month.

And I enjoyed reading it . . . the picture? Unnecessarily confusing. A last year Mercury belongs there . . .

[ausrutherford]

And I enjoyed reading it . . . the picture? Unnecessarily confusing. A last year Mercury belongs there . . .

Its my favorite Mercury, thats why I chose it.

[djhogie]

I still say Ford made a major mistake on dropping the Mercury brand. The article with Lee Iacoccca agrees with that.

[SobeSVT]

I still say Ford made a major mistake on dropping the Mercury brand. The article with Lee Iacoccca agrees with that.

Iacocca didn't say it was a major mistake, he said he didn't think he'd have done it.

Just for historical accuracy, its not that Edsel came up with the idea, its more like the idea slapped him in the face after the success GM achieved segmenting the market. He was finally convinced after an episode in which he had to be transported to the hospital in a cab. The driver realizing that his ill passenger was a person of means he apologized for his modest Ford car. Edsel replied, what's wrong with it? Fords are fine automobiles. But it struck him that Ford was being perceived as modest vehicles.

Still Edsel had a hard time accepting that the new car could be named anything other than "Ford". The Ford-Mercury name was toyed with for a while, the are even pictures of 1937s prototypes wearing Ford-Mercury badges, before just Mercury was finally adopted.

I still think that this thread should be illustrated with a last model year Mercury, especially if the thread is going to be featured in the home page) it is about 10/2010 sales after all and may be confusing (or worse, ridiculous) for a first time visitor coming through the home page. A tribute to Mercury thread could be started in the Vintage Ford section.

[3Mach1]

I still say Ford made a major mistake on dropping the Mercury brand. The article with Lee Iacoccca agrees with that.

I would like to hear him expand on it. Being a Ford guy at heart I never paid much attention to Mercury or Lincoln. I hate to see merc go as the next guy but you have do what you have to do to make money. I loved the 67 courgar by the way but have ever seen one in person unlike the Mustangs of that vintage.

[3Mach1]

Iacocca didn't say it was a major mistake, he said he didn't think he'd have done it.

Just for historical accuracy, its not that Edsel came up with the idea, its more like the idea slapped him in the face after the success GM achieved segmenting the market. He was finally convinced after an episode in which he had to be transported to the hospital in a cab. The driver realizing that his ill passenger was a person of means he apologized for his modest Ford car. Edsel replied, what's wrong with it? Fords are fine automobiles. But it struck him that Ford was being perceived as modest vehicles.

Still Edsel had a hard time accepting that the new car could be named anything other than "Ford". The Ford-Mercury name was toyed with for a while, the are even pictures of 1937s prototypes wearing Ford-Mercury badges, before just Mercury was finally adopted.

I still think that this thread should be illustrated with a last model year Mercury, especially if the thread is going to be featured in the home page) it is about 10/2010 sales after all and may be confusing (or worse, ridiculous) for a first time visitor coming through the home page. A tribute to Mercury thread could be started in the Vintage Ford section.

I was not aware of how the idea of Mercury came to be. Thanks for the history lesson. In my time it was wildly thought that Mercury was upscale from a Ford by the masses. My neighbor bought a GM with a 302 pushrod engine and thought it was something. I just thought of it as a slicked up Ford. There was no mechanical difference to speak of. The same can be held true of Buicks of that era. Thats why I never had much interest in either of them. A Buick was a slicked up Chevrolet.

Perhaps Im missing the point but I think Ford did the right thing killing Mercury from a business standpoint. To the informed buyer they were nothing but a fancied up Ford with a different grill. Thats my take anyway.

[Andrew L]

I was not aware of how the idea of Mercury came to be. Thanks for the history lesson. In my time it was wildly thought that Mercury was upscale from a Ford by the masses. My neighbor bought a GM with a 302 pushrod engine and thought it was something. I just thought of it as a slicked up Ford. There was no mechanical difference to speak of. The same can be held true of Buicks of that era. Thats why I never had much interest in either of them. A Buick was a slicked up Chevrolet.

Perhaps Im missing the point but I think Ford did the right thing killing Mercury from a business standpoint. To the informed buyer they were nothing but a fancied up Ford with a different grill. Thats my take anyway.

Towards the end yes... but there was a time when the Mercury name and Buick name meant something. My dad told me many stories about how when he was growing up he remembered how the nuns at a local church had a Mercury Station Wagon and people would ways say things like oooohh where did they get that kind of money?

My dad also mostly bought Ford's but he once had a Mercury and he used to get complements and was told that it was a baby Lincoln.

Long time ago though. The late 90's is where it got really bad because that is when Mercury's starting using the same interior as Ford's but with some wood trim. At least in the 80s they had their own unique interiors and side panels.

Favorite Mercurys for me would be the 1970 Cougar, 1970 Marauder, 04 Marauder, hell even the 80s and 90s Cougar's.

Back to on topic... though

where else is the Fusion sold? Because it sells in larger numbers than the Mondeo... isnt the Mondeo sold everywhere else besides North America?