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Ford Trucks
Ford Trucks builds momentum, just keeps on trucking!
The premium commercial trucks manufacturer has been in the forefront with ground-breaking work on autonomous driving
As Ford’s only heavy commercial vehicle global brand with more than 60 years of experience and dynamic product development capabilities, Ford Trucks has been offering the best solutions to meet the needs of public utility companies and other customers.
Ford Trucks is a global operation managed by Ford Otosan which has been manufacturing Ford Trucks vehicles at its Eskişehir plant in Turkey which is the only heavy commercial production center for Ford globally.
All engineering activities relating to the Ford’s heavy commercial vehicle segment are carried out by Ford Otosan under the brand Ford Trucks. The vehicles, that are produced at Eskişehir plant are distributed in global markets; currently the commercial trucks brand is active in 43 countries and will reach 50 countries by 2025.
Ford Trucks produces a wide range of trucks including our International Truck of The Year (ITOY) awarded F-MAX and powertrain for trucks.
In an exclusive with Global Supply Chain, Bahattin Topcu, Managing Director, Middle East & Africa, Ford Trucks, spoke expansively and shared profound insights regarding the company, the formidable brand, prospects for the industry and his vision for the future.
Global Supply Chain (GSC): Briefly trace the origins of Ford Trucks in the UAE and bring us to current on how you are now positioned in the country and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region? Bahattin Topcu (BT): Our journey, which started in 1960 with the F600 series trucks, continues today with fully indigenous design and engine production that relies on the mastery of Ford engineers.
The UAE is a critical market, in the sense that it is the hub for our Middle East and Africa operations. We have been serving our UAE customers since 2014 with our strong product line up and competitive Cost of
Ownership (CoO) through customer-oriented services provided by our distributor Al Tayer Motors and Premier Motors.
GSC: What are Ford Trucks’ USPs (unique sales propositions) / distinctive traits that set you apart from your competitors? BT: With more than 60 years of history and expertise in manufacturing trucks with product development capabilities, Ford Trucks is one of the few brands that develops and manufactures axles, engines, transmissions, and the entire powertrain of a vehicle inhouse. The Ford Trucks vehicles sold in the international markets, as well as their engines and engine systems are developed with 100% Ford engineering.
Thanks to our robust R&D capability, today we are producing and exporting high technology. As an innovative brand that has the purpose of ‘to be the road mate that cares about customers and enables their businesses thrive’, we introduce new models that make an impact on the global market with the best CoO offering to increase profitability of our customers.
We heavily invest in the future of our product portfolio and new technologies. This year at IAA, we launched the Generation-F concept that has emerging technologies such as connectivity, zero emission and autonomous vehicles. With Generation F movement, in 2030 we aim to generate half of our European sales from Zero-Emission Vehicles (ZEV), while by 2040, we aim to have a portfolio of zero carbon emission vehicles across all our operations.
GSC: Talk to us about your latest Ford commercial vehicles’ introduction and how have these been received in the regional markets? BT: At the 2022 IAA Commercial Vehicle Exhibition held in Hanover, we’ve launched Ford’s first-ever all-electric truck developed and produced in Turkey, right from design to final testing processes.
Our new generation truck, which is 100% electric, quiet and has excellent manoeuvrability, offers many advantages in terms of reduced energy consumption costs compared to internal combustion engine vehicles. Customers can look forward to making energy savings of up to 50%.
Furthermore, maintenance costs are expected to be reduced by two thirds since the number of moving parts is much lower in all-electric trucks as compared to standard internal combustion vehicles. Electric trucks, the product of our Generation F technological transformation movement, and our innovative technologies signals our determination to serve the needs of Ford Trucks customers in the electric and connected future.
This year, we also unveiled connected and autonomous driving technologies developed with our engineering capabilities, technology production and R&D power. Initiating a major transformation in heavy commercial vehicles with the Generation F movement, the newgeneration vehicles, with their high-level connectivity features using ConnectTruck technology, also offer real benefits in terms of total CoO.
At Ford Trucks, we’ve been carrying out ground-breaking work on autonomous driving. We also introduced some of our innovative technologies such as Level 4 Highway Pilot and autonomous reverse parking. Its remote vehicle control technology allowed visitors to experience driving the F-Max in Eskişehir, 2,000 kilometres away.
Bahattin Topcu took over as Managing Director, Middle East & Africa, Ford Trucks, from Mustafa Caner Sinanoğlu, who has since moved to a new position in the company as Managing DirectorFrance, Ford Trucks International.
Having started his career with Ford Otosan in Turkey in 2006, Bahattin served as the Regional Manager for North Africa and Eastern Europe, assigning dealers in markets such as Morocco and Ukraine and expanding operations in Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, and Algeria. Subsequently, he switched to marketing and became a product specialist. GSC: Which are the top three countries in sales terms for Ford Trucks in the region? BT: In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE are the top markets followed by Iraq and Oman in terms of Ford Trucks sales. We had considerable sales increases in Qatar and Bahrain as well.
GSC: How have you performed to date in the UAE in 2021 and what is the outlook for 2022? BT: On average we have been enjoying a 5% market share in UAE. However, we recorded double digit market shares with big fleet deals from time to time, some of them were achieved in 2020. Our aim is to keep scoring double digit market share in a sustainable manner as of 2022.
GSC: What is your range of commercial vehicles, and which are among your top selling models in the region? BT: Being a global player we have a wide variety of product offerings according to the needs of different customers in different climate and geographical territories. We produce tow trucks, road, and construction trucks offered in EU3, EU5, and EU6 emission levels in our vehicle portfolio of 16 tons and above.
Our 2019 ITOY award-winning F-MAX 4x2 tractor is offered with a 500 PS 13 lt internal combustion engine and automatic transmission. At the same time, we have 13 lt at 420 and 480 PS engine options in our 1842-48 tractors.
In our Road Trucks, with different axle configurations ranging from 4x2 to 8x4 and 330 PS and 420 PS engine options in 9 lt and 13 lt volumes, we offer solutions in the field of distribution as well as our urban vehicles such as garbage, vacuum trucks, and road sweepers.
In our construction series, we have products suitable for different market dynamics for different usage needs such as mixers, dampers, and pumps, with axle configurations ranging from 4x2 to 8x4, with a technical capacity of 18-44 tons, with 330,420, 450 and 480 PS 9 and 13 Lt engines.
In the Middle East, our construction models, especially 8x4 transmixers are the most popular, parallel with the big
construction Projects in the region. We also have huge demand on municipality vehicles which we offer with x2 and x4 rigid trucks to serve the needs of cities. Logistics is also a very big and growing segment which we serve with 4x2 and 6x4 derivatives with many different configurations for specifi needs of our customers in the region.
GSC: What are your expansion plans for the region and do you plan to set up yet another manufacturing plant in the region in the foreseeable future? BT: We are continuing our global expansion with the first all-electric heavy commercial vehicle to be produced in Turkey and the development of advanced technology for the connected, autonomous driving of the future. We are planning to reach 43 countries by the end of 2022 and 50 countries by the end of 2024 with our brand Ford Trucks.
We are already present in all critical Middle East countries, so expansion is already completed. We now plan to expand in all our current markets in the region with more sales & service points wherever needed. Currently
our Eskişehir plant has enough capacity to serve our entire network, as a very wellestablished plant and with strong supplier base around it. We plan to continue serving our customers with highest quality Ford Trucks from this facility.
GSC: What opportunities and challenges (competition) for the present and future do you foresee going forward? BT: Through our research, we see the desire of public institutions and especially municipalities to use electric vehicles as urban vehicles. They want to provide more environmentally friendly, efficient, and quiet municipal services by using electric vehicles in urban services as soon as possible.
We see that the most difficult points for public institutions and other private companies are the initial purchase costs of the vehicles and the financial services to support this. We are working on financial support packages to support our customers and will be announcing them along with the introduction of the new vehicles.
Moreover, we think that supportive incentive programs should be implemented quickly by the governments to reduce the initial purchase costs of vehicles and to diversify financial services (financing).
If this issue is handled globally, we believe that this transformation will bring great opportunities both for the main industry and for the entire value chain. Encouraging both the production, sale and use of new generation environmentally friendly vehicles will contribute to the global competitiveness of our automotive industry.
