Record sales of Territory and Fiesta and continued strong Falcon sales during December contributed to Ford Australia celebrating the end of 2004 with 135,172 retails - its best total sales result since 1995.

This resulted in a total year market share of 14.2%, up 0.3pts over the prior year. This represented Ford's second year in a row of market share growth.

December sales of 12,436 vehicles gave the company its equal highest monthly market share for 2004 at 15.7%, an increase of 2.0 percentage points over December 2003.

"2004 was a fantastic year for Ford Australia," said Ford Australia President, Tom Gorman.

"Our strong sales increased our market share even further over 2003, within a rapidly growing vehicle market.

"Territory and Fiesta have been particularly successful. In only eight months on sale, Territory has sold 13,583 vehicles - 2,184 of them in December - taking out the title of Top Selling SUV six months in a row along the way.

"Fiesta reached a monthly high in December, with 481 vehicles sold, which brought its yearly total to 3,930. When you combine these sales figures with Australia's Best Car Awards for Territory, Fiesta and Falcon, and the Courier-Mail Car of the Year Award for Territory, it's obvious that these are the right vehicles in the market at the right time," said Gorman.

Falcon passenger finished the year with strong December sales of 5,608, bringing the yearly total to 65,384 vehicles.

"Importantly for our business here in Australia, we sold a total of 101,279 locally produced vehicles during 2004," said Gorman.

"This is the highest number of locally produced sales in Ford Australia's history and is 5.7% more than during 2003."

Focus also finished 2004 on a high, achieving a December record of 1,032 sales, bringing its yearly sales figures to a record high of 12,565.

Other vehicles in the Ford range also had a strong finish to the year. Courier had its best total sales result on record, with 7,077 vehicles sold, while Falcon Ute (20,123 vehicles) and Escape (3,252 vehicles), achieved their second best total sales results on record.