Asia: No boundaries

Whisked off to Pattaya immediately upon landing at the Bangkok airport, we were nonetheless treated to a spectacular skyline view of Thailand’s premier city. Or to be precise, the top quarter parts of its buildings, foliage, and billboards hawking cell phones and cars. That’s because a large part of the Bangkok-Pattaya trip involves driving over vast stretches of elevated highways, thus affording us a unique perspective of the local landscape.

Which is quite apt when one is joining 30 or so other journalists from eight key Asian countries in an immersion activity with automotive giant Ford Motor Company. As part of the company’s "No Boundaries" campaign, the said program aims to provide the media in the Asean region with a better insight and increased understanding of Ford’s commitment, strategies and plans concerning the Asean market. All viewed from a fresh perspective.

Aiming to become the top automotive company in the region since it first opened its Bangkok regional office five years ago, Ford Asean operations president John Parker said Ford has been quite busy during those years, "opening world-class manufacturing facilities, providing high-value jobs to local citizens, and delivering customer-focused products and services to consumers throughout the region." He rationalized that with the company’s forthcoming 100th anniversary next year, "we felt it imperative to demonstrate this commitment as well as showcase some of our success stories to the media across Asia."

Ford’s enthusiasm and apparent optimism in the Asean market is not without basis. As company figures show, these multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic countries that make up the Asean are recognized as one of the-if not the-most profitable emerging market in the world. In 1996, over a million vehicles in the region were sold. A low point was 1998, which followed the financial crisis that rocked most countries in the region. But even then, half a million vehicles were still sold.

By 2000 though, the market has recovered its ’96 form. Next year, Ford expects the market to triple the ’98 figures. In 2006, it is forecasted to reach the two-million-vehicles-a-year mark.

Interestingly, Ford believes this two-million-vehicles volume is only scratching the surface. With an estimated half a billion population, the Asean clearly have a strong market potential in the years to come.

In this region, Thailand has established itself as the "Detroit of the East." Not surprisingly, Ford’s presence in this country is hard to miss. Next to the North American market, Thais are the second-largest buyers of pickup trucks. Ford trucks then, have a huge market to service.

A visit to Ford’s assembly plant in Thailand is therefore in order.

Located a couple of hours from Bangkok at the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate in Rayong, the AutoAlliance plant churns out the Ranger pickup alongside its Mazda Fighter sibling. This $500-million joint venture between Ford and Mazda is recognized as the second largest in the country. Its trucks are exported to 130 countries worldwide.

Another noteworthy market in the Asean is Vietnam, a visit to which makes up the second part of our program. Hanoi is the home of the Ford Vietnam operations head office, and its Hai Duong plant is where the Ranger, Laser (or Lynx), the hyped-up new Escape sport-ute, and the Transit minibus are built. Ford Vietnam Limited, a $102-million investment, is the largest American investment and largest automotive joint venture in Vietnam.

In numerous talks in Vietnam, Ford strongly emphasized what it calls its corporate citizenship initiatives in the region. Parker said the company firmly believes in giving back to the communities in which Ford operate. Corporate citizenship, he added, "is increasingly becoming a measure by which our consumers rate us by."

A large part of this corporate citizenship agenda is the Ford Motor Company Conservation and Environmental Grants program, which was first launched in the region in 2000. The grants fund various projects committed to the preservation of the environment, culture and heritage.

Ford’s thinking and philosophy on the manner the company conducts its business is reflected in the words of Bill Ford himself, the company’s chairman and CEO, who believes there should not be any conflict between business goals and social and environmental concerns. Which, quite frankly, is a unique perspective.