Ford: The brand on the move

In a shock announcement, President and CEO of Ford Motor Company, Alan Mulally boldly revealed to The STAR in a candid closed-door interview at the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo, that Ford is merging.

The unexpected announcement caught everyone, including Ford Group Philippines’ AVP for corporate communications, Anika Salceda-Wycoco, completely flat-footed.

“Ford is merging,” Mulally continued to a deafeningly silent audience. “There will no longer be a Ford Philippines, Ford India, Ford China... Just One Ford. Ford is merging with Ford.” the rock star CEO finished off with a smile. It was only after the grin spread across his face did someone remind Anika to breathe.

“So, I take it that you have no plans of acquiring any more brands?” I fired back, especially since local manufacturer TATA acquired Land Rover and Jaguar for $2.3 billion back in 2008. “Let me put this as carefully as I can”, Mulally replied, measuring each word. “No.”

And it is that kind of single-minded Focus that has seen Ford rise from the ashes of a staggering $33 billion debt to become one of the fastest growing automotive brands in the world. Hailed as the savior of the brand and the author of the One Ford plan, the former VP for Boeing believes that every Ford product must harness the power of one of the world’s largest companies to come up with a global product.

“Take a look at Apple. They don’t have a different iPhone and iPad for each country. They pour all their resources into making the best product they can,” he explains.  And we’ve started to see this plan unfold with the Focus, the Ranger, and now the awesome new EcoSport that has taken on an entirely new approach to compact and versatile motoring.

This stunningly designed lifestyle vehicle wedges itself into a segment that has up until now never existed, much in the way that Apple created one of it’s own with its’ revolutionary iPad. This is Ford’s way of saying: “We’re back, and this time it’s personal.”

Ford is now completely focused on Ford. And rightfully so, too; there’s really no sense in diluting such an icon. Locally, Ford Philippines has registered one record year after another; while total industry sales have taken a 2.4% hit, even before taking into account the effects of the Thailand disaster, Ford Group Philippines has recorded a 50 percent spike in year over year sales to an impressive 7,963 units – making it the fastest growing automotive brand in the country. And with the introduction of the Ranger later this quarter and the Ecosport in 2013, this is definitely the brand on the move.

Watch this space.