Ford says its growth in its fleet segment market share is down to what it hails as its best ever vehicle range.

Ford is leading the UK fleet car market with a 15.9% share for the year to August, up from 15.4% for the same period in 2011.

Ford’s total fleet vehicle sales – comprising 95,752 cars and 32,654 vans – make up 62% of Ford’s total vehicle sales in the UK.

It indicates how important fleet registrations are to Ford, as the national average split for fleet is 50.9%.

The relatively new Ford C-MAX has seen the largest growth in Ford’s fleet car sales with a 22% per cent increase year-on-year.

The Ford Galaxy is close behind with a 20%.

Further fleet sales increases have been recorded by the Ford Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo with sales up seven per cent, three per cent and three per cent, respectively, for the year to date, compared with 2011.

Kevin Griffin, Ford of Britain fleet director, said: “Ford sells its vehicles across all sectors of the UK fleet markets and I am delighted that the company has seen an increase in total fleet sales, in 2012.

"The combination of Ford’s best-ever vehicle range, latest fuel-efficient diesel and EcoBoost petrol engines, improving residual values and the power of the UK’s largest dealer network has seen Ford’s fleet business go from strength-to-strength.

“We are seeing growing interest around the 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engine, with 40% of Ford Focus 1.0-litre EcoBoost sales going to fleet buyers, despite the fleet market being diesel-led,” he continued.

Ford continues to lead the UK commercial vehicle fleet market with a 26.7% share, 13 percentage points ahead of its closest competitor.

The Ford Transit tops UK commercial vehicle fleet sales with 27,006 registrations for the year to date and it remains Ford’s third best-selling vehicle in Britain.