Car UK May 2019

Staring into the

abyss: Ford’s

8-point plan

Dismal losses in Europe are triggering a

radical reinvention. By Phil McNamara

16 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | MAY 2019

1 Embrace the problem

Operations specialist Stuart

Rowley, who led Ford’s US turnaround,

has ben parachuted in to help salvage

the European division. It lost $398m in

2018, and Ford’s European market share

has dived by 2.5 per cent since 2009. GM

pulling out of the region has made the

unthinkable thinkable – so it’s do-or-die

with this radical plan.

2 Prune the dead wood

Loss-making cars such as the

Ka+ and C-Max are being culled, and

the Mondeo’s future looks bleak as the

US won’t invest in new saloons. Options

lists will be simplified, and customers

lured into higher-margin trim lines ST-

Line, Titanium and Vignale.

3 Yet more SUVs

Only one in five Euro Fords

is an SUV. The Ecosport has better

margins than a Fiesta, so Ford is

doubling down with a new entrant

in that space, the Puma. This small

crossover, with curvy haunches,

wraparound lamps and lots of interior

space, goes on sale in early 2020.

4 Hybrids galore

Ford will introduce eight

electrified cars this year, as it rolls out

mild hybrids, ‘self-charging’ hybrids and

plug-in hybrids. The new Kuga range

includes all three. Its 2.0-litre diesel

will be offered with a 48-volt electrical

system to boost efficiency, while the

PHEV mates a 2.5-litre petrol with an

electric motor, for 29g/km of CO2 and 31

miles of zero-emission range.

5 Roll out EVs

Next year also brings a new

battery electric vehicle to rival Jaguar’s

i-Pace. The ‘Mustang-inspired’ crossover

should offer a 370-mile range, better

than anything currently on the market.

All these electric cars are needed to help

Ford meet its CO2 obligations, with big

financial penalties for failure. ‘We will

comply,’ president Rowley told CAR. He’s

also looking into synergies from tapping

Volkswagen’s electric-vehicle know-how.

6

The human cost

In Germany 5000 out of

23,000 jobs will go, and the UK’s 12,

workforce will be pared back too. A

transmission factory in Bordeaux will be

shuttered, and Ford has bailed out of its

passenger-car business in Russia. Brexit

could yet cause a huge financial shock in

Ford’s biggest European market.

7 Foreigners welcome

Ford will bring more imports

into Europe, buoyed by the success of

the Mustang, worth 10,000 lucrative

sales a year, and Europe’s best-selling

pick-up, the Ranger. Next up is the

seven-seat Explorer SUV, a US mainstay

since the ’90s. It gets a V6 plug-in hybrid

for the mainland, but won’t reach

the UK: the case for right-hand-drive

doesn’t add up.

8 Vans and Volkswagen

While the European division

posted a negative 1.3 per cent margin,

Ford’s vans business makes double-digit

profits. Turkey’s low-cost Transit facility

should become even more profitable

by making the Transporter van, as part

of the Ford-VW alliance. And Ford is

keen to stay ahead of the pack with

plug-in Transit and Tourneo vans, vital

for curbing city air pollution. Ford is

Europe’s number one for vans – the rest

of the business needs to catch up fast.

Transit is one of

Ford’s European

successes; EV

version due 2021

New European

boss Rowley

with Kuga and

Explorer: thinking

the unthinkable