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TORONTO (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co gained market share in Canada in a tough year in 2009 and the Canadian unit's chief executive says he expects the momentum to push into 2010.
The company ended the year with 15.2 percent of the Canadian market, up 2.6 percentage points year-over-year. Sales were up 7 percent from 2008 in a market that was down more than 10 percent overall.
"That's the best market share Ford of Canada has experienced in seven years," Ford of Canada CEO David Mondragon told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
"We've had some ebbs and flows, but we feel really good about our position and year-end share."
Mondragon said the market share gain came through retail sales -- up by about 18,000 vehicles -- as opposed to fleet sales, which are group sales for taxis, police cars, public-works vehicles and the like. Fleet sales were down by 4,000 vehicles.
"It is quite easy in the industry to grab a bunch of sales and share through the fleet arena, but it's far less profitable, and far less helpful to the brand over the long haul."
Mondragon said Ford forecasts moderate growth in the overall Canadian market in 2010: about 2 to 4 percent, or 20,000 to 50,000 vehicles. He said he does not see sales reaching 2008's high level again for some time, with moderate growth for the next few years.
Last year, which saw the biggest decline in the industry in Canada since 1990, both General Motors Co GM.UL and Chrysler were forced to restructure through bankruptcy protection and needed tens of billions of dollars in U.S. and Canadian government aid to stay afloat.
Ford managed to avoid bankruptcy and a bailout, and Mondragon said the company's balance sheet is still strong.
"We are financing our position and improving our balance sheet every day and we're working with key stakeholders to make sure we can move our business forward and finance our way through a difficult time." He said Ford began aggressively restructuring its business years ago with accelerated new-product development.
"Truly, that investment in product for Ford Motor Company is the key differentiation between our brand and any other brand in the market today," he said.
"In 2009 Ford had more new model introductions than any other brand, and in 2010, we're bringing to market 10 new introductions." To help spur sales in the new year, Mondragon said the company would continue with many of its incentives, and introduce new ones as well.
He said Ford of Canada has lowered the manufacturer's suggested retail price on several of its most popular vehicles by more than C$1,000 ($960), while adding equipment to them at the same time.
(Reporting by John McCrank; editing by Peter Galloway)