Ford UK chief Mark Ovenden has told just-auto that Ford is well-placed with key model introductions in a broadly stable UK car market this year. He highlights the arrival of the B-Max and Ford’s new three-cylinder 1-litre EcoBoost engine.
“The B-Max is huge for us. It’s an outstanding vehicle – no-one else has got a door system [B-pillar integrated to the doors for a pillarless opening] like that,” he says. “If you combine that with the overall style of the vehicle and the incorporation of engines like EcoBoost and the existing diesels, then I think that’s a very compelling package.”
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Ovenden is reluctant to give a volume number, but he sees growth ahead on a vehicle that is a big change on what it replaces – the Fiesta Fusion. “We’re confident – certainly versus today’s Fusion – that the B-Max will deliver healthy growth for us. It will appeal to traditional B-MAV [B-seg multi-activity vehicles; egs includes Opel Meriva, Nissan Note] customers, but I can also see it appealing to B-seg customers who want to trade up to something that is cool and funky, and people in the C-segment wanting to trade down. I think we could have a very successful vehicle there.”
He boils the package down to the key factors that make the B-Max strong: the styling, the engine and the innovative door system. “And we’ll start at GBP12,995 which I think is a good price for that vehicle.”
The petrol engine line-up for the B-Max is led by Ford’s new three-cylinder 1.0-litre Ford EcoBoost petrol engine (also fitted to the Focus), available in 100PS and 120PS versions. Equipped with the Ford Auto-Start-Stop system as standard, the 120PS EcoBoost engine achieves CO2 emissions of 114g/km and fuel consumption of 4.9l/100km (57.6mpg). Other petrol engine options include the 90PS 1.4-litre Duratec unit, or the 105PS 1.6-litre Duratec engine which is paired with Ford’s high-efficiency PowerShift six-speed automatic transmission with dual clutch technology.
“The EcoBoost engine we really believe is a gamechanger,” Ovenden maintains. He expects it to account for around 30% of Focus sales, certainly a large sounding figure for an ostensibly small-sized engine. If it achieves that and something similar on the B-Max, it will have made a big impact.
There’s also a new Kuga SUV hitting the market towards the back end of this year. It is slightly bigger than the outgoing model, delivering better rear legroom and stowage, which Ovendon says is a reaction to customer feedback.
Ovenden adds that the Focus ST is coming too, including an estate/wagon variant. “I’ll be interested to see how that goes,” he admits.
There’s also a new Ford Ranger pickup this year and Ovenden believes that the new styling pitches it more to the ‘lifestyle’ segment in the pickup sector (and it has also achieved a EuroNCAP five-star rating, the only pickup on sale in Europe to achieve that). He sees incremental volume growth coming from the lifestyle buyers.
“We’ll continue to sell it as a work truck, same as we’ve ever done,” he says. “But I think the incremental growth comes from selling it through car dealerships as a lifestyle choice. And for the independent tradesman, it also just looks so good, it will make a real statement for your business.”
He also describes the new Transit at the end of this year as of ‘vital importance’ for Ford of Britain. “It’s a market where we have been leaders for 46 years and we want to continue that.”
Ovenden is cautious on the UK car market outlook but reckons that planning on demand being broadly flat is sensible from a business planning perspective.
“The market is maybe a little bit softer than last year, but it is broadly in line with last year – we’ll know more after March [a big month in the UK car market with a registration plate year identifier changeover]. The key is to stay fairly conservative with your product plans because if there is a downturn you don’t want to be left with an excessive amount of product.”
Ovenden maintains that Ford is seeing share strength in the fleet and retail sectors of the market, but says there has been weakness in the medium commercial vehicle sector.
“A lot of that is in commercial vehicle rental where some of the operators have been struggling to de-fleet,” he says.
And he raises the possibility of some market upturn later in 2012.
“But there does seem to be a view that maybe in the second half, things will generally start to get a little bit better again. There’s a little bit of just hanging in there at the moment. None of us know what’s going to happen in the eurozone. We have to concentrate on what we can control, which is selling fantastic cars and then deal with whatever else comes along when it comes along.”
See also: GENEVA PREVIEW: Ford details ingenious B-Max rear door system
