Ford keeps its focus as market falls

9 per cent last year to just over 2.34m and the SMMT forecast a further fall of 1.3 per cent in 2007. The Ford Focus reigned supreme as the UK's best selling car with 137,694 units leaving showrooms. The lower-medium mainstay, which was also the most popular oil burner, has topped the sales chart for the past eight years with total registrations surpassing 1 million. The blue oval's Mondeo, however, was outsold by the BMW 3 Series by 2,000 units. The 3 Series was the UK's eighth best selling car and the only prestige model in the top ten with dealers shifting more than 50,000 units. Other than the Focus, two other C-segment cars, the Vauxhall Astra and Renault Megane, and two superminis, the Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Corsa, completed the top five. Market leader Ford held steady despite the market downturn with registrations slipping less than 1 per cent to 344,408 – delivering a market share of 14.7 per cent. Fiat enjoyed a 64 per cent jump in volume to 59,000 but Renault and Nissan suffered 20 per cent dips. l See full-year results on page 4.