Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa says it is grateful for what it calls “the continued customer confidence” in its brand despite the recent Kuga recall.
The local arm of the US automaker was commenting after Naamsa released industry sales figures for January 2017.
Ford SA says it sold a total of 6 634 vehicles in the first month of the year, which represented a 1,7% increase on the corresponding month in 2016 and a total market share of 14,5%.
“We are encouraged by and grateful for the continued customer confidence in the Ford brand and our current range of products, despite the challenges relating to the safety recall announced in January for the 1,6-litre Kuga sold in South Africa in 2013 and 2014,” said Gerhard Herselman, general manager for sales for the sub-Saharan Africa region.
“Ford is actively addressing the issue of the Kuga 1,6 safety recall, and we are absolutely committed to doing right by our customers in South Africa. We will do what it takes to address customer concerns and maintain confidence in our products and the company.
“We appreciate our customers standing by us through this difficult period, as we focus on resolving these issues and delivering vehicles that are designed and manufactured with the highest standards of safety, technology, reliability and value for money,” Herselman said.
Although Kuga sales fell to just 74 units in January, the Ranger (2 677) topped the list of SA’s best-selling bakkies, ousting the Toyota Hilux for the month. Ford says its Everest (365) achieved its second-highest sales to date, while the Mustang managed an all-time high of 128 units.
As pointed out in our list of SA’s best-selling passenger vehicles, the Fiesta (1 707) and EcoSport (828) also maintained momentum in January. The Ford Fusion and Tourneo Connect, however, made our list of SA’s worst-selling passenger vehicles (priced under R500 000).
