The biggest success story on the South African motoring scene right now is Ford Motor Companys massive progress made in the past few years.
Under the dynamic leadership of Indiana-born CEO Jeff Nemeth, Ford has seen its market share in South Africa rise from 8% to 15% in the past five years, and currently, in terms of total vehicles sold in South Africa, it occupies the number two position, behind perennial market leaders Toyota, and ahead of Volkswagen, which has been relegated to third spot (in overall vehicle sales, as it should be noted that VW, without a high-volume player in the bakkie market, still leads the passenger-car sales race).
All this gave the Ford Go Further conference in Sandton this week a bullish spirit, as it was attended by hundreds of dealers and suppliers to Ford, as well as members of the media from South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
New Products from Go Further
From a product point of view, Ford has plenty on offer in the next few months to keep the excitement level on the boil. And Ford previewed a host of new models on the horizon on the stage of the Sandton Convention Centre, which had the dealers baying for more!
The day after the conference, Ford launched the new B-Max, a city-orientated mini-family car with the unique feature of enjoying a sliding rear door on either side of the well-priced, modern-looking little running about.
In the fourth quarter of 2015, Ford will introduce the new, comprehensively face-lifted Ford Ranger, produced in a vast array of derivatives. It uses the same chassis and body shell as the Ranger introduced here in 2011, but with a new nose section featuring a modern trapezoidal grille, projector headlights, new bumper designs front and rear and a new interior.
The up-dated interior features a soft-touch dash with re-designed instrumentation, and many modern hi-tech features usually found on up-market sedans. The new tech includes Lane Keeping Alert and Lane Keeping Aid, Adaptive Cruise Control with Forward Alert, Front and Rear Park Assist and Tyre Pressure Monitoring System.
The Ranger has proved to be the biggest success story on the South African motoring scene in the past year, becoming the countrys best selling vehicle as measured over the first six months of sales in 2015. This sees it topple its arch rival, the Toyota Hilux, from this position, which it held for many years.
The car that raised the second biggest cheer when introduced on stage was the new Ford Figo, which also arrives here in the fourth quarter. This was the car, in previous-gen form, that saw the revival of Ford as a volume-player in South Africa, and the new model is set to re-write the scenario once again in the burgeoning entry-level segment in this country.
Another favourite, from a visual point of view, is the new Ford Everest, a tough, bakkie-chassised luxury SUV, which is also set for launch here before the end of 2015.
CEO Jeff Nemeth is an avowed motorsport fan, and his personal garage in South Africa contains some real petrol-head specials, including a classic early 70s Mustang. Nemeth is no-doubt torn between whether he should order up the new right-hand-drive Mustang, which finally makes its appearance here in South Africa right towards the end of 2015, or a new Ford Focus RS, which is due here in early 2016.
The Mustang is the biggie in terms of a halo model here, and it is due to arrive in late November or early December in right-hand-drive form, in both 2.3-litre four-cylinder Ecoboost form, and with the V8 engine for which it is fabled. At the Go Further event, Ford showed an eye-catching convertible, that is currently produced in left-hand-drive form. We have some exclusive details about the Ford Mustang here, which you should know about.
The new Focus RS has 257 kW of power from its turbocharged 2.3-litre Ecoboost engine, and will come with all-wheel-drive, as well as a Drift Mode setting that enable drivers to really hang the tail out in fabled Ken Block fashion.
While unfortunately no real-life example was on offer in Sandton, Ford also showed visuals of the stunning new Ford GT which is set to return to Le Mans in 2016, after a hiatus of 47 years, when the original Ford GT scored its last of four Le Mans victories at Le Mans in 1969. On the production-cat front, Ford is set to launch 12 new performance-orientated products on the global market by 2020!
