Ford committed to hitting top gear

The auto market in Vietnam is slumping. What is the strategy that Ford uses in Vietnam to overcome this difficult time and are there any new products Ford will introduce in Vietnam this year?

Ford still sees a lot of opportunities in Vietnam’s automobile market in the next five years. But if you look at the analyses, it is predicting a nice view of the market to grow to 120 percent by 2018.

Therefore, we will continue to introduce and produce new vehicles in Vietnam. The all-new Focus is what we launch this year. We already announced plans to introduce eight products under One Ford across ASEAN by mid-decade and the Focus is the next step of this journey.

In the coming years, there will be even more vehicles to be released. Fiesta, Ranger, the all-new Focus is three new models we have launched in the last 18 months and we still have a lot to bring to the market. We will continue to invest in manufacturing and product introduction in Vietnam.

You said that you saw lots of opportunities here till 2018. So what about after 2018 when Vietnam entirely reduces import tax for cars to zero in accordance with its commitment to AFTA?

I cannot look that far in the future but again in the short term, we see opportunities. This year was a challenging year for the automotive industry through the low figures that I did notice recently. But according to the analysts, predictions and forecasts, the growth will overturn. We are facing that growth by launching eight products that we have been talking about.

What is the position of Vietnam in Ford’s investment strategy in ASEAN? For example, Ford has just invested a second facility in Thailand, what about Vietnam?

We will invest the cycle plan and bring products to the market and we see opportunity in Vietnam. Vietnam is an important market for investment of Ford across ASEAN. You can see it right from the plan to launch eight global products in Vietnam by the mid-decade, similar to any other countries, reflecting Ford’s investment and interest here.

Ford has nine plans in Asia-Pacific. The major receivers of those plans are China, India and Thailand. That is the key market for our investment in production. So from this investment standpoint, we are focused on three key markets.

Is there any difference between the introduction of global products to Vietnam compared to the US and other markets around the world?

Every market is different in terms of what customers’ value and there is crisis structure in each market. There is also difference in localisation as it is related to manufacturing. In some countries, there is difference of supplier network. So we can have the efficiency of global scale around the platform of the vehicle.

We need to think globally and act locally in area of marketing, supplier network and the area of how we speak to out customers. That’s why the focus in the North America can be very different compared to the focus in Vietnam.

With 20 years of work experience in the car industry, what do you suggest  developing the Vietnamese automotive market?

Twenty years of experiences is similar to the run. I’ve worked in many major markets and I realise there are many points we can do to improve Ford’s business in Vietnam: improving our company’s people here, improving our dealer network. My 20 years of experience also tells me that you do not need to change a plan that is working. It is a plan that is working globally, a plan is working across ASEAN and Vietnam. We offer products to customers who want them and we will grow our business here.

Clearly, the health of the automotive market is driven by the health of the economy, the salary of the people and the infrastructure to support the development of the market.