Ford Australia has recorded its best October sales performance since 1998, following another month of strong SUV and light commercial sales.

With total Ford SUV sales resulting in a new October record, combined with strong October results for Courier, Transit and Econovan, Ford has moved another step closer to achieving its best annual sales result in almost a decade.

Total Ford sales year-to-date of 110,713 units is the best result to this point since 1995.

Ford sold 10,560 vehicles for the month, an increase of 120 units or 1.1 per cent compared to October last year.

“Our overall SUV sales tally of 2,030 units was the second highest monthly result ever recorded by Ford Australia,” Ford Australia President Tom Gorman said.

“With 1,716 sales, Territory remains the top-selling SUV in Australia for the fourth month in succession."

“Territory also maintained its share of the SUV Medium segment with a 33.3 per cent slice of the October market, despite a softening of the wider SUV sector that saw it drop 1.3 percentage points on last month.”

Ford's light commercial vehicle range kept its strong third-quarter sales momentum going during October.

“Courier 4x4 recorded 356 sales, while Courier 4x2 finished the month with 249 units sold, both of which are tracking at their highest levels in over four years” Gorman said.

“Transit had a record October with 368 sales, to follow on from its record September result, while Econovan produced its best October performance since 2001.”

Falcon passenger sales totalled 4,512 units and Falcon Ute sales 1,407 units, as the changeover from BA to BA MkII took full effect during October. But a solid order book for the coming months has Ford on track for its best finish to the year since 1995.