Tinashe Makichi in JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Global vehicle manufacturer, Ford Motor Company plans to expand its dealer network in the Southern African region to 100 locations by 2017.
The vehicle manufacturer has in the past six years managed to consolidate its market share in the Sub-Saharan region to 15 percent from 7 percent recorded in 2008 driven by the introduction of new brands specifically the new Ford Ranger 2015.
Speaking at the Second Annual Ford Go Further event in Johannesburg, South Africa, Ford Motor Company Sub-Saharan region chief executive Mr Jeff Nemeth said the company has bigger plans for Africa and the Middle East.
He said Ford has aggressive plans to expand its business in Africa and will be launching 25 new vehicles into the Middle East and Africa region by 2016, with 17 of these models launched into sub-Saharan Africa.
“We are planning to increase our dealer network to over 100 locations by 2017 across the sub-Saharan region.
“I am extremely honoured to say that in the last 13 months we managed to introduce new products the Kuga, Ford Ranger and the Focus ST among others.
“Our market share has more than doubled from 7 percent in 2008 to 15 percent in 2015.
“Among our product mix, the Ford Ranger has done well in terms of sales in the Southern African region,” said Mr Nemeth.
He said the vehicle manufacturing company is planning on expanding its footprint in the Southern African region using innovation as the main driver.
Since 2008 Ford has rolled out brands ranging from utility vehicles to high performance and this has enabled the company to entice the market that has been dominated by Nissan and Toyota.
The company late last year launched the Ford Ranger 4X4 which has proved a success by being the highest selling vehicle brand in the first half of this year.
Mr Nemeth said the company’s vision is to develop innovation and create products that make customers lives better.
“The new Ford Ranger is enough evidence of innovation being implemented by the company where the sales for the vehicle have been going up and we are expecting more sales success going forward,” he said.
The company has so far sold 20 300 new Ford Ranger vehicles since the vehicle launch and is looking at manufacturing 250 000 rangers at its Pretoria plant this week for the Sub Saharan market.
“We are democratising technology within the group because it has become our core objective to churn out good vehicles to service our growing market in the Sub-Saharan region.
“Ford has made huge investments since inception to ensure growth and sustainability. This has enhanced our capacity to export and we are will continue to export to 148 countries across Africa,” said Mr Nemeth.
The company is also working on setting up a new Ford Ranger assembling facility in Nigeria where the kits will be supplied from South Africa.
Mr Nemeth said Ford recognised the massive growth potential of the African continent and the opportunities it presented and by the end of next year would have refreshed more than 50 percent of its product line-up in South Africa and 20 percent of its line-up in sub-Saharan Africa.