US automobile giant Ford grabbed a handsome slice of Bangladesh market after its re-launch here, competing with the Japanese brands that have dominated the market for the last 30 years.
Ford re-launched into Bangladesh in June last year with AG Automobiles, aiming to have a firm foothold on the market by introducing a wide range of new 2010 Ford models, including Ranger Pickup, Everest SUV and Focus cars.
Ford sold over 100 units of cars, mainly commercially-used double cabin pick-ups, in the first six months of its re-launch.
“We offered four years with 60,000 kilometres maintenance warranty, lucrative price and fuel efficiency for the double cabin pick-up, which made the model most competitive for commercial use,” said Hossain Khaled, managing director of Anwar Group of Industries, the umbrella group of AG Automobiles.
Previously, Mam Automobile had been the official Ford distributor in Bangladesh since 1984 and the company sold another 300 Ford cars before AG started distribution last year.
AG Automobiles plans to assemble pickups, jeeps, buses and truck chasis.
AG Automobiles started its journey in 2004. In 2009, it officially inaugurated its showroom with Ford cars in Uttara.
The car market here is mainly dominated by traditional Japanese Nissan, Toyota, Mitsubishi and new generation German Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
About 2,000 new cars are usually sold on the local market a year with 10 percent growth. Around 70 percent of new cars are used for commercial purposes, with the remaining 30 percent for personal use, industry insiders said.
Although Ford received a lukewarm response to some of its luxury models, Khaled is optimistic about the brand's future.
“Basically, high import duties and a traditional approach by local customers to go for small cars resulted in the poor response to Ford's big cars,” Khaled said.
He set a target to widen the market share by introducing small and price-competitive cars in the coming days.
“We will introduce the 'Ford Fiesta', a 1400CC car that will cost less than 20 lakh, in June this year. The Indian-made Ford Figo will also be introduced in early 2011 to strongly enter the personal use market,” Khaled said.
However, the company looks to the upmarket and may introduce Volvo cars next year.
Rangs, Pacific, Navana and Executive Motors are the Bangladesh distributors for Japanese Mitsubishi, Toyota, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
The country imports about 20,000 reconditioned cars a year -- mainly from Japan.
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