Ford has issued another price rise across its line-up – the third range-wide increase since the beginning of the year – and is warning of further pricing action to come.

The average increase of 4% from the start of this month follows a 3.75% average rise across the board in April and a 4.7% rise in February.

July’s pricing action will add between £600 and £650 to the price of Ka, Fiesta, Focus, C-MAX, Kuga and Mondeo models, while the S-MAX range will rise by around £700 and the Galaxy by £800.

Ford blames the weakness of the pound against the euro for the move, as it buys its cars from Ford of Europe in euros.

Nigel Sharp, managing director of Ford of Britain, said: “Raising prices in difficult times, and when a scrappage scheme has been introduced, may seem counter-intuitive but with so many of our costs priced in euros, there is no choice if we are to maintain a viable business.

“The exchange rate through to the end of 2007 had been stable for around 10 years (£1=euro1.43), but recent exchange rates have been about euro 1.16. The impact of this drop, on a car priced at £15,000, is close to £3,500 which has to be absorbed through the business. The total impact has been huge – well into nine figures – on our UK business.”

And Sharp warned that, even with the recent strengthening of the pound, Ford would need to recover this accumulated revenue loss through further price increases.