(pictured above is the 2015 Ford Everest SUV)
If you have a driving license, from any era you will know the Ford brand. The ‘Blue Oval’ as it is famously known has been part of Malaysian motoring scene since the first few cars moved early Malaysians. Yes Ford has a long history in Malaysia and it is a quite an interesting one.
In the early days, it was a brand of high demand and it commanded quite an impressive market share. The early Escorts and Cortina’s especially. Then in the 1980’s came the Ford-Mazda collaboration and this brought a slew of popular hot hatchbacks like the Laser ‘S’ and Mazda 323 Familia. This enthusiasm continued until the early 1990s and then there was a slow downturn in the Ford brand. The Ford Laser and Telstar did not do well against the commanding presence of the Japanese giants and so it almost slowly disappeared until the Ranger pickup made its grand entrance. Touted as a lifestyle pickup, this vehicle alone made Ford a household name again in Malaysia. Brand guardian Sime Darby has retooled the Ford brand and since 2008, Ford in Malaysia had grown from a humble 1654 units a year to 11426 units to date this year, 2014. The year has not ended and Ford is on track to deliver some 14000 units before the year is up.
(pictured above is the all new Ford Mustang)
The rise in demand for the EcoBoost powered Focus, Fiesta and Kuga has assisted in pushing sales up. The arrival of the all new EcoSport compact SUV has given more choices to showrooms visitors. Today, the latest Ranger pickup is the 2nd best selling pickup in Malaysia with 6831 units delivered and a commanding 46% sales surge.
With 49 active dealers (and growing) in the market today, brand guardian Sime Darby has no intention to slow down and in fact have embarked on a RM140million expansion program to upgrade its dealers, increasing its service work-bays by 75%, introduce at least 3 new vehicles in 2015 and increase its training and human capital strengths to provide all Ford customers a truly stress free Ford ownership experience.
(pictured above is the 2015 Ford Mondeo)
Sime Darby has also invested heavily in a new Body and Paint Centre and a Collision Repair Centre to ensure every accident damaged Ford is back on the road with the highest standard of repair.
To give Ford owners a better ownership experience, Sime Darby has also invested in 9 QuickLane outlets for fast servicing. The QuickLane outlets allow Ford customers to just drive in and get their cars serviced in queue.
Ford is working closely with Sime Darby to deliver class best products in every segment starting with unmatched safety features and latest cabin features in all cars and also in the Ranger pickup. Watch for the arrival of the latest Ford Mondeo in the 1st quarter of 2015 followed by the handsome looking Ford Everest SUV and then before the year ends, the iconic Ford Mustang will be launched in right hand drive. It’s going to be hard for the competition to keep up with the Ford momentum in 2015.
