Ford Australia has started the new year with its best January sales result since 1990, maintaining the strong momentum it generated during 2004.

Ford sold 9,122 vehicles during January, which gave the company a monthly market share of 13.1 per cent, up 0.5 percentage points over last year's January result.

"Despite the seasonally quiet Christmas/New Year holiday period, with fleet and government buyers not active and private buyers dominating the market, total Ford sales were up by 968 units over January 2004, an increase of 11.9 per cent," said Ford Australia President, Tom Gorman.

"Territory continued its run of strong results, with sales of 1,468 vehicles contributing to Ford's best January SUV result on record.

"In addition to such a positive SUV result, our forward orders for Territory are strong, with our dealers reporting a high level of interest now that the new year is fully underway.

"Fiesta set a new monthly sales record of 484 vehicles, surpassing its previous best from the month before, while total Courier sales gave the light truck range its best January result on record.

"With the recent launch of Courier V6 and the class-leading power offered by its 4.0-litre engine, this sensational start to 2005 has the Courier model line well positioned to achieve another year of record sales."

Ford sold 276 Courier 4x4 models, which was also a new January record, while Courier 4x2 sales of 209 units was its best January result since 1999.

Other strong performers for Ford included Focus with 1,122 sales and Escape with 375 sales.