The sales of Ford's Lincoln and Mercury cars in the Middle East in the first quarter of this year have increased 43 percent compared with the same period in 2009, a company official said in a press conference held at the Park Hayat resort here Tuesday. In Saudi Arabia, sales of Lincoln and Mercury saw a 74 percent hike over the first quarter last year, said Hussein Murad, the company's director of Sales in the Middle East. The sales growth for all its cars registered 54 percent and 104 percent for utility vehicles. Ford's growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries was driven mainly by strong demand across the range of Ford vehicles with nearly 30 percent increase in cars, led by the all-new Fiesta, Fusion and Taurus while utility vehicles were up by nearly 60 percent across the range with star performance across the SUVs and crossovers alike. “This has been an outstanding quarter for Ford in the region, and we are thrilled to see the momentum continue from where we left it end of 2009,” Murad told the Saudi Gazette. The company earned more than $2.7 billions in 2009, he said. Moreover, he said Ford is the only one of the “big three” US automakers that did not seek a government bailout in 2008.
