Ford will announce 10 retail sub-dealer appointments over the next six months, all of which will be opened by existing franchise holders.

Infilling gaps in small market towns is an important part of Ford's strategy and it claims to have received around 50 declarations of interest from existing and non-franchise holders.

Work continues on developing new programmes and finding ways to reduce cost for the 344-strong main dealer and 200-strong retail sub-dealer network under Project 100.

Six national dealer council working groups offer suggestions to the manufacturer, including training, retail marketing, dealer profitability and aftermarket.

"There is still a lot of variability in dealer profits, but we have a number of dealers that have proved that with the current trading terms they can meet Project 100 targets on profitability," says Ford UK managing director Roelant de Waard.

"Dealers have to make reasonable profit in order to provide the level of experience that customers expect."