Ford tops the market as car & van sales jump 34%

The New Ford Focus

In the combined new vehicle market for January 2015, Ford sold the highest number of vehicles with a tally of 4,515 units (3,128 cars and 1,387 vans) ahead of Toyota with a combined total of 4,282 and VW's combined total of 4,166, writes Trish Whelan.

"Coming on the back of strong industry sales in 2014, these figures show that the turnaround is thankfully showing some endurance," said Ford Ireland chief Ciaran McMahon. He added "What is particularly heartening is the continued growth in the van sector and what that says about the economic recovery in Ireland. When company owners are confident enough to renew their van fleets, that points to ongoing economic growth for the country as a whole."

Ford's own sales performance of 4,515 units was the company's best January performance in eight years with car sales up more than 38 percent and van sales up an impressive 130 percent on Ford sales figures for January 2014.

Ford has a range of new models hitting the showrooms this year including the new Mondeo and Focus which have recently arrived, and new versions of the C-MAX, S-MAX, Galaxy and the new Ford Mustang.