28 | REPORT II
Ford introduces LCV Uptime programme; Adds to Transit family
Ford's new Transit Active Range
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espite the dramatic fall-off in light commercial vehicles sales across Europe due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Ford has managed to increase its market share, by almost two percentage points. That was just one of the taking points from a webinar presentation by Ford of Europe, with Hans Schep, General Manager, Commercial Vehicles, hosting proceedings. During the COVID-19 lockdown period, Ford was actively helping out on both sides of the frontline, mostly behind the scenes, ensuring that key workers were kept mobile and supplied with PPEs. Th rough its dealer network emergency vehicles were provided and maintained, while fleet customers were looked after with immediate aftersales care. Then at its Dunton factory in the UK (and also at its EU plants), systems were installed to produce PPE equipment such as facemasks and face shields. Looking beyond and preparing for the ‘new normal’, Ford is about to launch special versions of the Transit family such as the Trial AWD and Active leisure ranges. Beyond that and over the horizon is collaboration with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, with more details now being made available. Brendan Lyne, (a Munster native), Director, CV Sales & Marketing at Ford EU outlined the year-to-date sales figures which show a 37% decrease over the fi rst five months of 2019 (-443,736 units), with Britain, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Romania and Poland all recording around 40% decline in their overall marketplace. “Ford is ranked fi rst as a single LCV nameplate with 14.3% market share YTD,” he said. Next in line is Mercedes-Benz, which gained business over the period, on 12.8%, with VWCV third on 10.8% with Renault Pro+ and Fiat Professional completing the top five. However, if Groupe PSA brand figures were put together as in Peugeot, Citroen and Opel/Vauxhall, that combination would head the leader board.
FLEETTRANSPORT | JUL/AUG 20
In the 1-tonne category, the Ford badge is number one with the Transit Custom line-up, marginally ahead of Volkswagen, with PSA together with Toyota Professional closing in. In the Pick-up category, the Ranger is runaway leader, more than 10% up on its nearest rival, the Toyota Hilux, with the new Mitsubishi L200 on its tail(board). Driving Ford Commercial Vehicles forward is its revised aftermarket campaign, which proved its effectiveness during COVID-19. Termed ‘Uptime’, Owen Gregory, Director CV Aftersales, explained that it’s all about eliminating downtime: “Uptime is the primary driver for fleet effectiveness and Ford has expanded its team to deliver increased support with enhanced connectivity with dealers and customer’s vehicles.” To further strengthen the focus in this area, new Uptime Centres are being rolled out together with added features from its fleet management system, called Ford Pass Pro. Following on from the feature on Ford’s Conversion programme in the June edition of Fleet Van & Utility, Paul Baynes, manager CV Conversions explained that he and his team have kept in contact with its authorised converters during COVID-19. He said that while 50% of the coachbuilders were closed, with conversions activity down 95%, Ford, in tandem with its converters was able to meet increased demand from frontline workers such as Blue-Light emergency services, supermarkets/home delivery and mobile leisure vehicle users. To adhere to the required social distancing requirements, bespoke and generic partition fitt ings had to be installed in vehicles. Nicholas Whyman, Transit Product Manager highlighted the new product lines due for launch by Ford during 2020 and beyond. The new Trial and Active edition models within the Transit family are key elements of Ford LCV’s sales growth strategy, according to Nicholas. “The two new series share a common message – enhanced
