Ford Falcon outsells Holden Commodore, first time in 4 years
The Ford Falcon sedan outsold the Commodore sedan for the first time in almost four years in October.
An ecstatic Ford Australia president Marin Burela today announced that his company sold 2460 Falcon sedans compared to Holden’s 2425.
“We outsold them by only 35 or 36 cars but I’ve got to tell you, one would have been enough,” he said.
Burela said around one year ago he and his company made a pledge to “do something very special with the Falcon sedan”, and was especially pleased with the success of the XR6 Turbo and G6E Turbo and the special edition G-Series.
“I can’t tell you what a great celebration and a great delight it was that we were able to do this. We are now starting to really see that the Australian market, the consumers, are really rallying behind it.”
Market share of the Falcon sedan has continued to climb over the last 14 months, dropping to as low as 25 per cent and peaking at 37 per cent.
Total Falcon sales still trail well behind the Commodore (2841 versus 3455 in October) which has much to do with the success of the Sportwagon – which sold over 1000 units compared to the Falcon wagon’s sub-400 performance.
Burela said Ford is yet to make a definitive decision on the future of the wagon, but said one is due within the next two months and will be heavily influenced by the success and popularity of the new Mondeo wagon.
“The (Mondeo) wagon is now starting to attract an enormous amount of interest from fleets, from government, we’re seeing interest from small business and also the private buyer.
“With the two of them sitting side by side, we’re just letting the market tell us what they want and once we’ve received that ... we will know then the direction we need to move in.”
Another battle Burela is watching with interest is the contest between the Falcon and Commodore based utes.
Ford won the sales by 150 units last year, but a solid October from Holden (1127 versus 978) has pushed it into the year-to-date lead in 2009 by just 46 cars.
“Between Holden and ourselves, what a great race. One month we beat them, the next month they beat us, then we beat them, they beat us, and right now we’re nose and nose.
“What a great success story for the Australian industry between two main competitors who are really going at it and competing out there,” Burela said.
by Tim Beissmann
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