Uptime and transparency help Ford grow van market share

For Ford, 2021 was a tale of transparency and new projects designed to keep customers’ vans on the road.

Transparency in communicating the lengthening lead times caused by the semiconductor and parts supply shortages kept customers informed about developments, while Ford also suggested specification alterations to speed up deliveries on some model lines.

As customers kept hold of vans for longer, it brought Ford’s work on maintenance, repair and uptime into sharper focus, with projects such as Ford Pro and Ford Liive helping to minimise costs and downtime, even as vans aged.

Such innovations in the commercial vehicle sector helped Ford claim the title of Van Manufacturer of the Year in 2021, a highly prized award, according to fleet director Neil Wilson (pictured).

Fleet News: What would you say Ford did well during 2021, a difficult year for everyone?

Neil Wilson: We worked hard to keep customers’ businesses operational. We learnt to be more transparent on our evolving lead times and production plans. This has helped us to sell a healthy amount of CVs (commercial vehicles) – we’re still number one and we’ve grown our market share by 2.7% overall and by 3.7% in true fleet. We’ve managed new ways of working with customers, a blend of virtual and face-to-face.

Vans on the road

FN: How have you helped customers keep vans on the road?

NW: We have had two important launches. The first, Ford Liive, has been a great success, with hundreds of customers signed up for the free-of-charge vehicle health data which proactively manages downtime. We predicted a 60% saving for fleets, and we are already seeing significant savings from avoiding downtime, for example on oil changes and making maintenance events more efficient by carrying them out while the vehicle is in the workshop. One customer has avoided six engine breakdowns because they knew the oil light was on. We are also working with our dealer network on triaging vehicles when they are off the road to ensure repairs are done as quick as possible.

Our second launch was Ford Fleet Management (Fleet News, December 2020). We have several customers that have signed up, including Culligan Group, VanElle, Metro Mechanical, Hermes, Power Electrics, Falco Construction and Addison Lee. They are taking advantage of the great variety of services.

Ford Fleet Management gives us a new and different way to offer our services to customers.

FN: Mobile servicing has also helped Ford to get customers’ vans back onto the road more quickly. How is this service developing?

NW: We have 125 vans now operating out of the Transit Centre network – 80 at TrustFord sites – and have plans to grow the network. Our customers are really engaged with this service proposition, which is helping to optimise uptime; it’s a great asset to be able to offer this level of flexibility, with maintenance at a customer’s site or at home. The vans can do most servicing and warranty work – anything where the vehicle doesn’t have to be on a ramp.

Ford Pro concept

FN: Ford Liive and Ford Fleet Management both link into the global Ford Pro concept. What else can we expect to see?

NW: Ford Pro will come to life this year. One key area is the hardware and software charging solutions for home, work or public to make it as easy as possible for customers to run electric product. Ford Pro will provide an ecosystem of solutions for fleet customers, using telematics data, digital services and financing to help customers get the most out of their vehicles. More details will follow in April, but we are having conversations with customers now as they get ready to place orders for the e-Transit.

FN: The e-Transit (196 miles range, 34-minute 15-80% DC fast charge) is clearly a huge model for Ford, giving you your first all-electric model. And it enters the large panel van sector where fleets are desperate for a viable option.

NW: We have several customers with trial vehicles to give us real-world feedback and they’re delivering on the range we promised. The trials help us to understand how to get the best out of them – for example, use of speed limiters and acceleration controls.

We hope to have the first full production models by the end of March and we have lots of customers waiting to place orders.

Acceleration in demand

Ford is anticipating demand for electric vans to accelerate during 2022 as more fleets understand that they now offer real-world solutions.

The only caveat is the ongoing supply chain issues affecting all manufacturers. Ford is seeing six-to-12-month waiting times for its commercial vehicles, dependent on specification, and four-to-six months on passenger vehicles.

“Demand for the e-Transit could easily outstrip supply, so we are working with customers on lead times,” says Wilson.

“The only thing certain about this year is the uncertainty!”