FORD Australia has expanded its focus on the fleet business as the latest Ranger and Everest hit new levels of demand and the company prepares to launch its E-Transit into dealerships.

Ford’s recently-appointed director of customer experience, growth and sales, Ambrose Henderson, told GoAutoNews Premium that fleet sales had always been a significant part of the company but that has accelerated because of intense fleet interest in the Ranger and Everest.

“There is a huge demand for fleet business on the back of success with the Ranger,” he said.

Ford has also appointed Christine Wagner as general manager fleet and upfitting, a move from her previous role as mobility and connected vehicles marketing manager, a role that reflects Ford’s push into connecting more with its fleet customers and introducing future strategy for operators.

Ms Wagner said that future strategy was about supporting customers with a broader suite of products or a broader set of support.

“It’s something that’s fairly new for us and is a distinct move away from just selling the car,” she said.

“It involves us helping customers with a total solution. This could be a range of things. At one end of the spectrum it may be us consulting with the fleet customer to see the best way to work with a bodybuilder and ensure that the customer gets the right outcome from the body shop.

“We would help the customer with solutions. In the case of the Ranger, this could be helping with a body for a cab-chassis model or for off-road equipment for an Everest.”

Ms Wagner said a reflection of the volume of work available and the scope of what the program can offer customers was huge. This was indicated just by the number of cab-chassis vehicles that need an aluminium tray.

“Looking at that demand, you can see that creating a product that is fit for purpose for any type of business application is critical,” she said.

“There are some cases where we may make bespoke solutions to fit a certain client’s requirements. That might be anything from a bespoke wiring bracket.

“It’s about being able to support some customers in a stronger way than otherwise have been necessarily available to the market.”

Mr Henderson said working for a solution for customers involved the Ford team but also access companies listed on its Ford licensed accessories program.

“That program is where a supplier would do the development and design and accessory work and would be reviewed by our engineering team,” he said.

“It allows us to offer a very diverse and expansive accessory suite. One of those partners is ARB and they always have a large suite of applications available for Ford customers.

“They obviously sell under their own brand but have gone through the rigour of our reviews and checks to make sure that they are going to deliver a solution for the customer.

Ms Wagner said: “Some customers want to deal with Ford in different ways – direct with us, through a dealership or through a program partner.”

“It depends on the individual customer. Some want to have a direct relationship with Ford because that fleet customer could be a national company and wants support nationally. Some customers have wonderful relationships with a dealer and the dealer’s support and they want to retain that relationship.

“We are very happy with those arrangements. We do not want to take away business from dealers and bodybuilders, for example, but we want to partner with the customer in a way that supports them in the best way we can.”

Mr Henderson said that Ford Australia had a unique opportunity to supply this service to fleet customers because of its Australian team.

“If you look at our design and engineering team in Australia, we have about 2000 engineers in Broadmeadows and we have a world class proving ground at You Yangs. So we have the expertise and the people right here to go and spend time with the customer to work with them to build a solution for them.”

Ms Wagner said that in some ways, the industry’s current delays in supplying new vehicles gave customers the time and opportunity to work with Ford to create solutions for their vehicles.

“If a customer has a relatively complex specification it may give us time to design and build any equipment or accessory,” she said.

“In this case, we would work closely with the Ford dealer network. It’s always done in partnership.”

This strategy aimed at the current Ford range will be expanded to include new products such as the electric E-Transit van that becomes available next month.

“We’re heavily invested in EVs,” Ms Wagner said. “It comes with a change in the thinking of fleets about how they will use an EV and what they expect from it.

“So they have to think about their delivery routes, the traffic density, whether it’s highway or CBD and the location of the charging stations so they can work with the range of the EV.

“Considerations are also for the type of cargo and the expected payload cycle. So we’re learning with the customer.

Ford launched its E-Transit at a media function last month. Ford Australia and NZ president and CEO, Andrew Birkic, confirmed that the E-Transit would be joined by the electric Mach-E and Puma.

“The all-electric Puma, an incredibly exciting entry into the light SUV segment, will be coming down under,” he said.

“With this addition, we’ve now confirmed four of Ford’s best battery-electric vehicles; the E-Transit, E-Transit Custom, all-electric Puma and Mustang Mach-E – for our local customers.”

As the EV models come in, Ford said it was ending the Ford Escape which will be discontinued in 2023. This includes the PHEV model that was a consideration for some Ford fleet customers.

By Neil Dowling