Ford Australia continued its strong sales performance in 2005, achieving its best result for the month of April since 1997.

The company's April 2005 sales of 10,293 were up 7.8 per cent or 746 units over April 2004.

A strong April contributed to Ford achieving sales of 42,616 vehicles in the first four months of 2005 – its best performance since 1990.

The company's 42,616 sales to the end of April compares with 40,016 in the same period last year or an increase of 6.5 per cent over the previous year.

"It's great to see continued industry strength with the overall market up by seven percent in April," Ford Australia President, Tom Gorman said. "We're pleased with our progress as Ford sales continue to outpace total industry growth in April and through the first four months of the year."

Ford's stand-out performers for the month were Ford SUV's and light commercial vehicles, and the recently-released prestige Ford LTD MKII model.

Ford's light commercial range produced its best April result on record with 2,607 sales for the month. This success was driven by the Ford Courier 4x2, Transit and F-Series -- which all produced their best April results on record – and continuing strong sales of Courier 4x4 and Falcon ute.

Ford Courier 4x2 achieved sales of 303 this month, up 30.6 per cent over April 2004. Ford Transit sales of 318 vehicles were up 53.6 per cent with F-Series sales of 193 vehicles up by 69.3 percent compared to April 2004.

"It has been a milestone month for our award-winning Ford Territory," Mr Gorman said. "Territory continued its strong performance with 2,093 sales for the month and broke through the 20,000 sales mark. Since its launch in June last year, 21,491 Territory vehicles have been sold.

"Territory sales, combined with Ford Escape and Ford Explorer, produced Ford's best April SUV result on record with 2,354 sales," he said.

Ford's share of the overall SUV market has grown to 15.5 per cent year-to-date compared with 3.2 percent for the same period in 2004.

Following the release last month of Ford's prestige range, the LTD MKII recorded its best April sales result since 1997.