Ford was Europe's No.1 top-selling commercial vehicle brand in the first quarter of 2015, as accelerating customer demand for its completely new and expanded Transit range resulted in the company's best market share in 20 years.

Ford sold 70,646 commercial vehicles in total in its 20 traditional European markets* in the first three months - a year-over-year increase of 42.4 per cent. Market share rose by 2.8 percentage points to 13.3 per cent.

In Ireland, Ford continued to dominate the van sector with sales of 2,679 CV units or 25 percent of the total market of 10,663 in the first quarter 2015.  The Ford sales tally in Ireland is up more than 84 percent year-on-year, a figure that significantly outpaced the overall CV market growth which saw sales grow by 50 percent.

"The strong momentum of our commercial vehicle sales growth has continued into the first quarter across Europe, fuelled by demand for the all-new four-model Transit range," said Ciaràn McMahon, Chairman and Managing Director of Ford Ireland. "Ford has totally renewed its commercial vehicle line-up, and the rise in the European market position from No.7 in 2012 to top spot in 2015 shows we are giving customers what they want."

"In Ireland, the excellent growth in our van sales has been driven by a number of factors, not least our very attractive low 3.9 percent APR and the very welcome return to the market of the single van operator, such as plumbers, carpenters and other trades people who have had to delay renewing their vehicles during the downturn", concluded McMahon.

Across Europe, Ford's Transit family of vehicles - which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary - has led the sales growth. Combined demand for the Transit and Transit Custom models grew by 27 per cent with more than 45,000 units sold in the first quarter, while sales of the Transit Connect rose by 69 per cent. Transit Courier, the first-ever small Transit, sold 4,400 units.

The Ford Ranger pickup also closed a strong quarter, being the top best-selling vehicle in its segment year-to-date, selling 6,578 vehicles, up 46 per cent year-on-year. First quarter customer orders for Ford commercial vehicles were up 87 per cent year on year.