Kuga sales tank but the Ford brand continues to do well
Despite poor PR when the Kuga 1.6 was going up in flames, Ford’s market share has jumped from 7.4% in the last quarter of 2016 to 10.1% in the first quarter of 2017
Ford Kuga sales have tanked but the iconic US brand has held its market share with other models. According to figures published by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) and TransUnion AIS, Kuga sales have fallen off a cliff since December when The Times broke the story of the 1.6 model catching fire, from an average of 200 new Kugas sold a month before the incendiary revelations to just 36 last month. But the manufacturer has barely lost market share in the wake of the Kuga PR disaster as Ford remains the third-biggest brand for both new and used car sales in SA. In the fourth quarter of 2016‚ a period largely unaffected by the Kuga crisis, Ford had 11.7% of the new car market‚ and by the end of the first quarter of 2017‚ it was only slighter lower at 10.3%. Fiestas and EcoSport are Ford’s top sellers. Fiestas accounted for 35% in quarter four and 37% in quarter one‚ according to Naamsa. And in the used car sales market‚ Ford’s market share actually jum...
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