Ford Motor Co. F reported an 11.7% year-over-year increase in sales to 78,100 vehicles in its 20 traditional European markets in Feb 2015. With this, the company’s monthly sales outpaced the industry sales growth of 7.1%. Year to date, Ford’s sales increased 10.4% to 166,600 vehicles.

Ford’s market share went up 0.3 percentage points to 7.3% in February. Retail market share went up 4 percentage points to 8.1% in the month.

The year-over-year improvement was driven by higher sales, particularly in the private retail and fleet sectors. Ford’s sales in the higher value retail and fleet segments were 74% of total February passenger car sales, which is higher than the industry average.

Further, Ford’s commercial vehicle sales jumped 40% in February and 36% year to date. As a result, the market share of commercial vehicles increased to 11.6% in Feb 2015 and 12.5% year to date. This sales performance helped Ford to become the second highest-selling commercial vehicle brand in Europe in the first two months of 2015. Even the market share of commercial vehicles for February and year to date emerged as the best in nearly 20 years.

Sales of most of Ford’s products were strong. Moreover, good demand for the new vehicles, such as Mondeo, Kuga, EcoSport and the Transit commercial vehicle range, boosted sales and market share in Europe. Sales of Mondeo and Kuga increased 33% and 40%, respectively. In addition, the company plans to launch several vehicles this year, which should boost sales in the future.

Ford currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked automobile stocks include American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. AXL, Tata Motors Limited TTM and Wabash National Corp. WNC, all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



FORD MOTOR CO (F): Free Stock Analysis Report



AMER AXLE & MFG (AXL): Free Stock Analysis Report



TATA MOTORS-ADR (TTM): Free Stock Analysis Report



WABASH NATIONAL (WNC): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research