Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa’s response
- All-time record for Ford Ranger sales
- Continued strong momentum for Ford EcoSport in the mini-SUV segment
- Ford maintain double-digit market share
- Ford sales up 37.6% year-to-date
PRETORIA, South Africa, 03 December, 2013 – Ford continued to record double digit market share and maintained sales volume stability during November, despite the impacts of the Transportation Industrial Action.
While the South African motor industry dealt with the distribution challenges posed by the so-called “Ferry Strike”, Ford delivered record numbers (1 937) of its locally manufactured Ranger. With production running at full capacity, exports also returned to their strong position, 2 565 Rangers delivered outside of our borders.
“Ranger production returned to full capacity in early October subsequent to the industrial action over the past few months, only for the industry to face another strike,” said FMCSA’s Vice President Marketing, Sales and Service, Mark Kaufman. “The team has been very creative in finding places to park newly built Rangers. If an agreement is reached very soon, we will be able to recover most vehicle deliveries during December.”
Dealer stock levels remained reasonably flush during November, buoying sales during the month despite distribution challenges.
“While difficult to quantify, we are estimating that November’s industry was 6 000 or 7 000 units short of what it should have been as a direct result of the strike,” said Kaufman. “Yet Ford sales showed continued strength, only 90 units short of October. This allowed Ford’s market-share performance to continue strongly in double-digit growth, at 11.7%.
“Our new global products with the latest in smart technology features continue to impress consumers. Our average market share year-to-date is 10.1% compared to 7.7% over the same period last year,” said Kaufman. “With 7 new products launched in the last 12 months, Ford sales are up 37.6%, an astounding 14 460 more Ford vehicles sold this year.”
The November South African new vehicle market came in 4.6% down on November 2012, 10.7% down on last month. Passenger car sales were 5.9% down and Light Commercial Vehicles 4.3% down on the same period last year.
