ROBIN August, Ford's new commercial vehicle chief, has spoken for the first time of his determination to fight off threats to his company's market domination. August officially takes over the post on May 1, but he has revealed how he plans to strengthen Ford's position by linking the commercial sales and marketing teams.

While Ford's car market share has plunged over the past few years, the van sector has held steady at around 40% and August is confident of keeping things that way. He said: 'We already have a solid marketing strategy which has proved successful. But the Ford commercial department is full of experienced and dedicated people and it will be my job to bring the sales and marketing sides together in a more customer-focused way. In future, we will be getting a lot closer to our customers.'

In the past two years, no fewer than 14 new commercial contenders have been launched against Ford, and August is aware that many - especially those from the Citroen/Peugeot/Fiat stable - are very serious contenders indeed.