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January 31, 2016

Ford Sales Up in ASEAN But to Shutter Japan, Indonesia Operations


Ford Motor Company announced that its overall retail sales for the ASEAN region in 2015 rose 3.3 percent from the previous year to a record 103,975 units.

This increase is driven by record full-year performances in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Cambodia as well as full-year market share gains in Thailand amidst a challenging domestic industry that saw sales decline for the third consecutive year there.

Driving Ford’s ASEAN sales is the Ford Ranger which was the best-selling pickup in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar for the second consecutive year as well as the second-best seller in the Philippines and Malaysia. Ranger sales across the ASEAN region rose nearly eight perfect to 54,114 units.

Ford’s ASEAN performance is also driven by the continued popularity of the EcoSport sub-compact crossover, which is actually their second best-selling vehicle in delivering overall sales at 20,518 units or an increase of 13 percent. The all-new Everest meanwhile delivered a staggering 98-percent increase year-on-year to 11,233 units. Rounding out the Top 4 is the Fiesta which garnered a 7,634 unit sales.

Thailand leads Ford’s overall ASEAN performance with a full-year sales figure of 36,463 units or 4.6 percent market share. In the Philippines, Ford delivered 25,372 units making it the number three best-selling brand. Vietnam saw 20,740 unit sales while Malaysia garnered 12,130 units and Cambodia doing 1,266 units.

Despite all the positive news, Ford has announced the closure of its Indonesian and Japanese operations this year. The carmaker sites the lack of a reasonable path to profitability as the main reason for their pull out.

Both the Japanese and Indonesian markets have proven protective to domestic or locally manufactured vehicles. In Indonesia, where Ford just entered in 2002, the carmaker sold only 6,000 units taking a measly 0.6 percent of the total market share. Meanwhile, Ford only sold 5,000 units in Japan throughout their 52 dealership network.

3 comments:

  1. To each his own; Japan and Indonesia are protecting their local industry as Ford does not manufacture vehicles there, even though Ford's products are sometimes better than the available local counterparts. While PH plan to implement 'CARS' program, it is actually still an open market. This enables the importation of brand new CBU units, which also opens the doors to import of used/retired vehicles (not to mention smuggling).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They also lack models in important segments in those markets.
      -AM

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    2. ^Because it was not feasible for Ford to compete in all segments in those markets. Goodbye Ford they wont miss you there!

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