By Melodie Warner Ford Motor Co.'s (F) total European sales dropped 15% in June from a year earlier as overall industry sales in the region fell to the lowest level since 1994. The automobile maker said it sold 129,600 units last month in its total 51 markets in Europe, down 22,300 from a year earlier. Ford said sales in its traditional 19 western European markets fell 16% to 100,400 units as it opted to not match some heavy competitive discounting. Its market share for the traditional markets was 7.32%, down 1.2 percentage points from a year ago. For the first half of the year, Ford said sales in its traditional European markets fell 10% to 617,600, marking the lowest level in nearly two decades. "The economic environment remains very difficult, obviously, and we are balancing the need to be price competitive, while remaining committed to improving net pricing, building brand strength and protecting residual values," said Roelant de Waard, vice president of marketing, sales and services for Ford of Europe. The U.K. remained Ford's largest European market in the year-to-date, with sales rising 1.2% to 183,900 units. Write to Melodie Warner at melodie.warner@dowjones.com
