The Ford Update from Geneva
Published Date: 3rd Mar 2016
Chief executive and managing director of Ford UK Andy Barratt is to focus on customer trust as others set out to increase online sales and jump into the alternative fuel market.
The stand at Geneva this year is packed with the brands premium level of car the Vignale, with models soon to join the Mondeo including the S-Max and new Edge SUV, this along with mobile servicing reflects new levels of customer service
“Vignale is central to this. As well as giving us a product to rival the premium brands and retain customers that might otherwise have reached a tipping point in terms of their aspirations with us until now, it also opens the way for a far broader array of services.”
Mobile servicing currently on a pilot scheme by Trust Ford Transit centres in London covering the inside of the M25, looks set to increase fleet numbers from 8 vans to a hundred mobile servicing vans nationwide and could even provide emergency roadside breakdown response.
Barratt said “That is a possibility. The success of the scheme in our Transit Centres within the M25 suggests that there is clearly a demand for it and now we’ll be rolling it out to a far greater audience”.
“It’s just one way we are hoping to improve the experience of our customers.
Another London based pilot scheme is Go Park, this will direct Ford drivers to available parking based on their location and data gathered from the movement of other participating vehicles.
With recent investment in electric vehicles coming in at £2.9 billion Barratt has raised questions as to whether this recent rush for alternative fuels is right, as for most people the efficient combustion engine such as the 1.0 litre EcoBoost engine offered across our range is great on fuel consumption and power.