THE Focus has remained Ford's most successful model in Europe with sales last year of 544,100 units.

Record sales were achieved in Britain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Spain and Sweden.

In total, Ford of Europe's share of the European vehicle market in 2002 increased from 8.6% to 8.7%.

'We're proud that Ford is one of the few manufacturers to have increased its market share in 2002 despite a very soft European car market and heavy competitive incentive spending,' said Ford of Europe's vice-president of marketing, sales and service Earl Hesterberg. 'Our performance is based on the strength of our product line-up, primarily driven by the continued brisk sales on the Ford Focus and the new Ford Fiesta.

'Our good sales results in 2002 show that Ford's European transformation is working not only in the area of profit, but also in market share,' he added.