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Ford forward: the ascendance of Ford Trucks

Bursting onto the Middle East trucks scene in the GCC with its first dedicated sales team in 2014, Ford Trucks still has much to prove to the region’s fleet operators, and much more to achieve.

Ford forward: the ascendance of Ford Trucks
Ford forward: the ascendance of Ford Trucks

Bursting onto the Middle East trucks scene in the GCC with its first dedicated sales team in 2014, Ford Trucks still has much to prove to the region’s fleet operators, and much more to achieve.

Mustafa Caner Sinanoglu, countries manager for the Middle East at Ford Trucks, explains:

What is your strategy for regional markets?

Our strategic vision is to become a global player and operational in 10 markets throughoconstructionut the Middle East region in the next 5 years. According to our international expansion plan, the first step is to complete market entries and reach full network coverage across the Middle East. We also aim to expand our product line-up and features in accordance with the latest market trends.

The significance of the GCC in the international transport sector and the volume of ongoing medium- to long-term infrastructure projects supported by the GCC development fund, as well as the government and private sectors, provide plenty of future potential and make the region a very attractive target of investment for us.

Which Ford Trucks are sold in Middle East?

All our product range including tractors, road trucks and the construction series are offered to customers in the Middle East market. They are mainly preferred for construction, long-haul transport and public works around the region.

Ford Trucks offers high-quality and durable vehicles with low operating costs. Popular variants in the region include tractors, tipper bodies and mixer bodies, as well as trucks with customised transmissions and cabin types for on- and off-road conditions. Tractors and construction vehicles are also offered with 10mm, 500-megapascal chassis frames that further improve the durability of the vehicle.

Trucks suitable for construction applications are offered in 6×4 and 8×4 versions with the powerful 12.7-litre Ford Ecotorq engine, and 4×2 and 6×2 models offered with 9.0-litre Ford Ecotorq powerful engine. There are also speciality trucks for municipal use with a variety of different superstructures for different requirements.

Ford Trucks’ “Hot Climate Package” meanwhile provides comfort in hot and dusty environments with improved A/C and radiator performance, and improved cabin isolation and filtration. The package was developed over a two-year period of vehicle durability tests in simulated laboratory conditions and tailored to specific customer expectations through a series of road tests in the region.

How is this offering suited to the customer?

Thanks to our extensive and long experience in heavy commercial vehicle manufacturing, our team has knowledge of the needs and expectations of our customers as well as the local conditions and regulations in Middle East region.

The robust components and technology of Ford Trucks are already perfectly suited to our region, but all of our series can also be further customised as solutions for the region’s toughest conditions such as heat, humidity and dust.

To ensure this, during the development of our vehicles, our engineers carried out various tests in working conditions, specifically in the UAE and KSA, over the course of two years. As a result, we have vehicles optimally tailored to the heavy-duty operations in the region in terms of fuel consumption, durability, efficiency, power and comfort as basic features of our products. Ford Trucks also offers two years’ unlimited mileage warranty and long maintenance intervals to keep customers’ operating costs to a minimum.

How is your dealer network structured?

A well-structured sales and service network is key to success in our business, and as the Middle East is one of our primary markets, we are working hard to develop our dealership network — with recent inaugurations in Oman, Qatar, Iraq and Bahrain.

We currently we have a widespread dealer network in the Middle East with powerful partners, including Al Jazirah Vehicles Agencies in Saudi Arabia, Al Tayer Motors/Premier Motors in the UAE, Mohsin Haider Darwish in Oman, Almana Motors Company in Qatar, Almoayyed Motors in Bahrain, Al Kasid Commercial Agencies in Iraq and The Commercial & Industrial Company in Jordan.

Our plan for the Middle East is to extend our facilities to Kuwait and Yemen. We will be completing our structure in Middle East by the end of this year, with distributors in each country offering excellent service and sales experience in dedicated service facilities for our customers.

What are Ford Trucks’ other strengths?

Our company has spent quite an amount of time gaining an understanding of our drivers and fleet company customers, and we have fed our insights into Ford Trucks’ extensive research and development activities and branding initiatives.

Aside from our technical developments, this has led to Ford Trucks’ new promise and brand slogan “Sharing the Load” — by which we mean we always stand by our customers and work to establish a close relationship with them.

Mustafa Caner Sinanoglu has been the Middle East countries manager for Ford Trucks since February 2014. He has a degree in mechanical engineering from Yildiz Technical University and an MA in marketing from the University of Greenwich.