Ford, the only member of the Big 3 US automakers which did not ask for a government handout, continues to take a greater market share globally.
Ford’s master plan is to increase its global sales by 50 percent by 2015 and the company sees the ASEAN marketplace as the key to continue the expansion. In fact, they are talking about 1.6 million Fords to be sold annually in the Asia Pacific region and Africa by 2020.
These are not idle boasts, but I believe are well thought out future plans for the American company. After all, in China, Ford has less than three percent, while GM is enjoying a 14 percent share. FoMoCo wants to change all that.
What Ford has done, is to start making cars that people want, rather than making cars with a theoretically greater profit margin that people didn’t want – and then have to offer financial inducements to get the people to buy them.
Ford has rationalized its model range by using the same underpinnings for different vehicles, such as the Fiesta and Focus, whose basic chassis can be used to produce small SUVs as well as sedans. This means the small vehicles can now return a greater profit for the company than they could before.
All in all, I believe that the Ford future plan is well thought out, its new range of models well engineered and with an improved infrastructure will once again by a global power.
