MANILA, Philippines – After wrestling closely with another make, the Ford Ranger has emerged as the Philippines’s bestselling pickup truck with unit sales of 7,996 units. The Ranger is the bestseller in both 4x2 and 4x4 configurations, according to figures from Ford Philippines. This accomplishment comes hot on the heels of the Ranger’s strong year where it won a total of six prestigious awards including a back-to-back win as the country’s Truck of the Year awarded by the Car Awards Group, Inc. (CAGI).
Aside from the Ranger’s all-time best performance, Ford Philippines announced that it finished 2014 on a high note with overall retail sales jumping 53 percent year-on-year. The 20,431 units sold were driven by strong sales across the Ford line-up. On its way to a record year, December sales of the American car brand jumped 56 percent to 1,903 units.
On its first year of availability, the EcoSport compact crossover has become Ford’s second-best selling nameplate with 5,203 units sold, 537 of which came in December alone. Meanwhile, the Everest climbed 11 percent year-on-year with sales of 3,137 units. The Fiesta contributed 130 units in December bringing its full-year total to 2,099 units. The increase in Fiesta sales is due to the launch of its high-performance and fuel-efficient 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine which has also been named International Engine of the Year in 2014 for an unprecedented third year in a row. The North American-sourced CBUs have also done very well: the Explorer mid-sized SUV increased sales by five percent year-on-year to 1,083 units while the Mustang sold 139 units last year.
“It’s been a remarkable year from beginning to end, and we’re extremely proud of how the Ford brand and our full lineup of global Ford vehicles continues to connect with, and be valued by, so many Filipino customers,” said Kay Hart, managing director, Ford Philippines.
There’s no stopping Ford Philippines’s momentum in 2015. The slew of all-new models is headlined by the arrival of the all-new Everest which was unveiled at a global event last November. This is joined by the new Explorer Sport and all-new Escape, both of which are equipped with EcoBoost engines. Customer deliveries of the Escape are expected to start by February. Finally, the iconic Mustang also sees a full-model change in the first quarter of the year.
In the dealership front, Ford continues to expand its dealership network bringing the total to 36 full-sized dealerships. This includes the opening of Ford Alabang, one of the largest Ford dealerships in the ASEAN region. Other dealerships that opened in 2014 include Ford Metro Baguio and the re-opening of Ford Tacloban.
Ford plans to continue adding new dealerships in 2015, further expanding the network and making the Ford brand even more accessible to customers nationwide.
“With the launch of more global Ford vehicles on the way, and the expansion of our nationwide dealer network continuing, we are committed to going further in 2015 and making the Ford brand even more accessible to our customers across the Philippines,” said Hart.