Buyers ‘value product’
Simon Rutherford, managing director of Ford NZ, is “really pleased” the Ranger was the country’s best-selling new vehicle, “particularly given the clean car discount was operating during 2023”.
“It showed how customers value the product,” he told Autofile Online. “To be the best-selling nameplate despite the segment coming under the pressure it did was a testament to what customers value with the Ranger. It has got unmatched capability and provides a great driving experience.
“We offer the Raptor at top of the range, V6 diesels and we’re winning with the bi-turbo engine as well. The combination of those things has driven the Ranger’s success by being able to give customers what they want in different categories.
“We’re excited about 2024 because we have continued to iterate the product and have the all-new PHEV with Pro Power Onboard coming.
“With regard to commercials overall, we achieved the commercials leadership with constrained supply and have got ourselves in a far better position going into this year.
“We’re also launching the all-new Transit Custom in diesel and BEV. We’re excited about extending our market offer with Transit from where we have been. With our growing range, I’m confident we can hold onto the commercials leadership overall.”
Market outlook
“A lot of customers held off in 2023 and have been waiting for the clean car discount [CCD] to disappear,” says Rutherford, pictured. “I anticipate we will get out of the blocks fairly quickly in 2024 with the Ranger and other products.
“There’s going to be a settling period for the industry following the end of the CCD and I expect the first quarter and into the second quarter will be a period of normalisation.
“Last year was very unstable and difficult for the industry as a whole to navigate, with fluctuations of cash flow and inventories in a high cost of capital business and high interest rates. It’s hard for dealers to navigate that.
“We’re pleased to get into what we hope is a less volatile environment. At the same time, we still want to lower our emissions and we achieved our target last year.
“We want the clean car standard to be more realistic in terms of its forward slope of the curve. But we also want to work towards alternative sustainable transport, lower emissions, and having fair and reasonable targets to do that.
“There needs to be an all-sectors approach to achieve that and we need to understand the dynamics of what’s happening globally with the transition to EVs. The pace might be changing a bit, but it’s not stopping.”
