Ford has begun talks with its fleet customers in advance of the final stage introduction of its price realignment policy, which has seen thousands of pounds cut from the list price of its cars.

In August, Ford will cut the list prices of its small car range in a move that will see up to 11% come off the published prices of its Focus, Fiesta and Ka.

In April the company cut the published prices of its large cars – Mondeo, S-Max and Galaxy – allowing company car drivers to benefit from lower Benefit-in-Kind tax bills.

Ford stressed that the move does not affect the price fleets pay for their cars – the transaction price stays the same.

Essentially, fleet discounts and dealer discounts and margins were reduced or done away with altogether and instead used to reduce the published list prices.

It is this list price that is used to calculate BIK bills not the actual price paid by fleets for their cars.

Companies also benefit from lower National Insurance bills for company car drivers as a result of the lower P11D prices of the cars.

Now, from the start of August, Ford will reduce the list prices on all its medium and small cars. 

This final stage in the programme follows seasonal promotions featuring discounts of up to 15% off larger Ford cars introduced in February.

In April, these promotions effectively became permanent on the large cars and now they will be applied across the entire car range.