Ford Ireland is aiming to reverse the podium positions of the 2014 sales charts and overtake Toyota and Volkswagen as the number 1 seller this year. That is the aim of recently appointed Ford Ireland Managing Director Ciaran McMahon, and he believes the Blue Oval has the vehicles to do so.
Ford is aided by the fact that McMahon is talking overall vehicles rather than just passenger cars and Ford commercials finished 2014 healthily ahead of the competition, but it is still quite a target.
However, with the Focus having just been overhauled, the new Mondeo just arrived and a slew of refreshed or new vehicles to follow the affable Galway man reckons this could be Ford's year.
Amongst those new or refreshed vehicles are the S-Max and C-Max MPVs; a Europeanised version of the EcoSport - after the original specification failed to set the world alight; the updated Focus ST, including the new diesel model; the Edge SUV; and of course the Mustang, which arrives in Europe this summer.
Between them, the Focus and Fiesta racked up in excess of 7,000 sales in 2014, finishing third and fourth in the sales charts respectively, so there is already solid ground to build on, but McMahon says his plans are as much based on rivals' 'weakness' as Ford strength.
With Volkswagen (currently the top dog in Ireland) only really having the new Passat and Touran and a few additional trim lines for its other models this year and Toyota just the updated Prius+ to arrive, Ford could feasibly overhaul the duo. However, whether a few MPVs, a couple of SUVs and a duo of performance cars are enough to overcome the 2,000+ deficit to Volkswagen remains to be seen.
A lot will ride on the shoulders of the more mainstream Focus and Mondeo models. Nevertheless, to claim the coveted number 1 position come year-end, in his first year at the helm of Ford Ireland, would be quite the achievement for the new Ford MD.