Ford Australia continues to post strong sales results as the local auto industry closes in on a record year for new car sales.

Ford sold 12,023 vehicles during November, an increase of 2,300 units or 23.6 per cent compared to the same month last year, to record its best November sales result since 1989.

Record sales of Fiesta, Falcon Ute and Courier, along with another consistently strong performance from Territory, has Ford keeping pace with the unprecedented rate of new car sales in Australia.

“Fiesta achieved its best result on record with 458 sales, which comes just a few weeks after the Fiesta LX three-door won the Best Small Car title in Australia's Best Car Awards,” Ford Australia President Tom Gorman said.

“Territory recorded 1,912 sales to continue its run as the top-selling vehicle in the SUV Medium segment, as well as making it five straight months as the number one SUV overall in Australia.

“Our total combined SUV sales of 2,198 units surpassed last month's strong performance and was just 170 units shy of the all-time record set in September this year.”

Falcon Ute sales are within sight of a new annual record after achieving a November sales record of 1,607 units.

Mr Gorman said Falcon Ute sales were just one of a number of highlights generated by Ford's light commercial vehicle range in the November sales figures.

• Best November Light Truck sales on record with 2,725 units sold
• November record for total Courier sales of 588 units
• Best November Courier 4x2 result since 1982

“With total Ford sales for the year up by almost 7,000 units on 2003 figures, we're looking forward to another strong performance in December as we reach for our best annual sales result in almost a decade,” he said.

Ford sold 5,628 Falcon models during November, with Falcon sedan sales up by 1.4 per cent compared with this time last year and Falcon wagon sales up by 6.6 per cent.

Total Ford sales year-to-date of 122,736 units is the best result to this point since 1995.