Ford's Sweetened Scrappage Deals Deliver Thousands of Orders

BRENTWOOD, UNITED KINGDOM – May 19, 2009: Market leader Ford has taken more than 3,000 extra orders from first-time customers in the new car market, thanks to the Government's vehicle scrappage scheme.

Customers keen to benefit from the scheme have been placing orders with Ford dealers since scrappage incentives were announced last month and vehicle deliveries will commence tomorrow (Wednesday).

Motorists are attracted by Ford's supplementary offers which have reduced the price of the sought-after Ford Fiesta top seller to £7,995. And the Ford Focus, the UK's most popular new car last month, becomes £9,995 to customers replacing vehicles of 10 years or older.

Scrappage scheme incentives bring the new Ford Ka within a £6,000 budget, while the Ford Fusion starts at £8,745 for motorists replacing pre-September 1999 vehicles. The Ford Mondeo becomes available for under £12,900.

Other scrappage savings are on offer across Ford's car and commercial vehicle range, including a seven-seater Ford Galaxy MPV for only £17,195 and a minimum £2,000 discount on Ford's Fiesta Van, Transit Connect and Transit models.

Nigel Sharp, Ford Britain managing director, said: "Ford is putting its full weight behind the UK vehicle scrappage scheme, which will not only boost sales but will also bring positive employment and environmental benefits too. Ford's substantial backing of subsidised vehicle scrapping helps to secure the 100,000 auto industry jobs in the UK dependant on our company, dealerships and suppliers."

Environmental website Clean Green Cars (www.cleangreencars.co.uk) calculated the annual CO2 benefit of replacing old vehicles with the greenest new Ford equivalent. If today's 65.6mpg Ford Focus ECOnetic replaced all 1998 Ford Focus 1.6 models, an annual saving of 120,000 tonnes of CO2 would be made – the equivalent output of over 40,000 homes.