Official figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry have confirmed that Ford regained the No.1 sales position in 2008, beating Toyota and VW for sales of new cars and vans in Ireland.

The blue oval increased its share of the overall motors market to 13.7% with 25,392 units sold in a year in which the overall vehicle market itself fell by 22% to 185,492, the lowest level for five years.

The car market dropped 19.3% (151,624) to its lowest level since 2003. Ford was the only one of the top five distributors to increase its car share (from 11.3% to 12.6%).

Not surprisingly, Ford boss Eddie Murphy was very upbeat about the results.

“The Ford range is ideally suited to the new market conditions we encountered in 2008,” he said. “The change to a CO2-based car tax last year benefited the Ford line-up. In addition, with the economic downturn, our line-up is best positioned for motorists looking to either downsize or to ensure they are buying a reliable car that represents value.”

The Ford Focus maintained the position it has held for seven years as Ireland’s best-selling model with sales of more than 7,000 units, ahead of the Toyota Corolla.

In third spot was the Ford Mondeo, the country’s best-selling family car, with 6,737 units, followed by the VW Golf. The Ford Galaxy MPV completed a hat-trick of segment wins for the mark.

“We are looking to new Fiesta and Ka to add to these individual model successes in 2009,” said Murphy.

Among commercials, the Ford Transit was again the clear No1 seller, with 13.2% (3,959 units) share of the light commercial vehicle market (29,917).

2009 has got off to a good start as well for Ford. Figures have just been made available for the first 20 days of January which show that Ford has further strengthened its grip on the car market with an 18.3% share - a full 3% ahead of its nearest rivals Toyota. Similarly, it continues to hold a 17.4% share of the van market, almost 7% ahead of its nearest rivals Volkswagen. In combined overall sales, Ford is 4% clear of Toyota with an 18.2% market share.