Record sales driven by localised cars
Record sales driven by localised cars
While most other joint ventures changed to importing cars, Ford Vietnam is still investing millions of US dollars into its manufacturing lines to strengthen localisation in Vietnam and has posted great successes.
Ford Vietnam has recently shipped the 20,000th Ford EcoSport from its factory in the northern province of Hai Duong, marking the significant development of the model that has been leading the SUV segment since its entry to Vietnam four years ago.
Since its launch in Vietnam in 2014, Ford EcoSport was welcomed and created a new trend for urban SUV vehicles. Making up more than 20 per cent of Ford Vietnam’s sales, Ford EcoSport has contributed significantly to the growth of this brand, and expanded to the segment of young customers. Particularly in 2018, as many as 4,220 EcoSport vehicles were sold, increased 18 per cent over the same period last year.
“We are proud of EcoSport, which has successfully approached a new segment and created a new trend for compact SUV vehicles in Vietnam’s urban areas, while maintaining constant growth. Not only featuring the global brand of Ford, EcoSport is also designed with modern, personalised features, energy saving, flexible operations, as well as smart and safety technology. That is why Ford EcoSport is loved by modern urban residents,” said Pham Van Dung, CEO of Ford Vietnam.
Domestic assembly on par with global standards
EcoSport is the pride of more than 600 employees at the Hai Duong factory, one of the six Ford factories over the world manufacturing the Ford EcoSport model, which is sold in 149 countries globally. Thereby, in order to match the strict standards of global markets, all workers, engineers, and technical staff in the Hai Duong factory have been trained, along with the regular support from foreign experts to ensure that each EcoSport meets all quality standards before shipping.
Moreover, Ford Vietnam has also poured millions of US dollars into manufacturing lines for dozens of robots and spot welding machines as well as hundreds of bolt mounting devices to control the standard fastening force.
“We are proud of what Ford Hai Duong and our staff have done to manufacture vehicles surpassing global standards. Ford is the first automobile manufacturing venture to be managed by Vietnamese leadership, with careful support from a global team of experts. After 20 years of manufacturing, Ford Vietnam has developed significantly, and we always listen to customer demands and comments to further improve our products and manufacturing process,” added Dung.
Ford EcoSport is equipped with two engine versions, the EcoBoost 1.0L which was honoured with the international title of “Engine of the Year” for five consecutive years, and Dragon 1.5L I3 Ti-VCT 122Ps.
Dragon 1.5L contains three cylinders, its body is cast in aluminium alloy. The engine’s weight has been decreased by 10 per cent, while its capacity increased by 10 per cent, and torque rose by 7 per cent compared to the previous 1.5L 4-cylinder engine. Along with the 6-speed hydraulic automatic transmission, the new version of Ford EcoSport accelerates smoothly and confidently – while saving 20 per cent fuel and decreasing emissions by 20 per cent.
Earlier, in the 19th annual Sustainability Report, Ford announced meeting its emissions reduction goal eight years ahead of schedule. In 2010, Ford’s Environmental Quality Office announced the goal of reducing the company’s carbon dioxide emissions from manufacturing operations by 30 per cent per vehicle produced by 2025. Ford hit the target in half the time allotted. The results are dramatic, with a global manufacturing CO2 emissions reduction of more than 3.4 metric tons from 2010 to 2017 – equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from more than 728,000 passenger vehicles driven for one year.
“We are proud of the work our Asia-Pacific markets have done to help achieve this goal,” said Cynthia Williams, director, sustainability, environment, and safety engineering, Asia-Pacific. “We have made several improvements to our manufacturing operations throughout the region – from the lighting we use to innovative technologies – all of which played an important role in dramatically reducing our CO2 footprint.”
Ford reduced its emissions footprint through energy conservation and efficiency changes at its manufacturing facilities. Painting operations also require a large amount of energy. Across the Asia-Pacific, the introduction of new technology in Ford’s paint shops is making a significant difference.
By offering comfortable, smart, safe, energy saving, and environmentally friendly vehicles, Ford has been a favourite of customers.
All-time record sales
In addition to creating a new trend for compact SUVs, Ford EcoSport and other local models have also contributed significantly to the all-time record sales for Ford Vietnam in November, with retail sales rising nearly 44 per cent year-on-year to 3,466 vehicles. In addition to the imported Ranger, the localised Focus led sales across Ford’s full line-up in Vietnam for the month, each posting their best-ever monthly results.
“Things are really coming together for us to close out the year – including successful new vehicle launches with the new Ranger, Raptor, Everest, and EcoSport, and a healthy supply of our full line-up at dealerships across the country,” said Dung.
The sporty Focus delivered its best-ever sales month with November sales more than doubling from the same month last year to 269 vehicles, helping push its year-to-date total up by 74 per cent, to 1,851 vehicles. EcoSport remains Vietnam’s most popular SUV with November sales increasing by 5 per cent year-on-year to 400 vehicles, helping push its year-to-date total sales up by 18 per cent to 4,220 vehicles.
