By Jordyn Grzelewski From The Detroit News Ford Motor Co. netted 242,618 sales in Europe in the second quarter, for a 43.7 percent increase over the same period last year. Meanwhile, Ford’s European sales of more than 500,000 vehicles through the first half of the year represent a 22.6 percent improvement over last year, when the onset of the coronavirus pandemic led to widespread lockdowns. Ford captured 6.2 percent of the Europe market in the second quarter. That’s down 0.9 percentage points from the second quarter of 2020. Its share of the retail market stood at 5.8 percent in Q2. In terms of sales volumes in the second quarter, Ford’s top European markets were Britain, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain. Bright spots for the automaker included sales of the Ford Puma crossover, the Kuga SUV, and its commercial Transit vans. The Transit Custom van was the best-selling vehicle overall in …