MoneywebDRIVE: Feature
Interview with Jeff Nemeth, President and CEO of
Ford Motor Company’s Sub Sahara African region
JN: Yeah, I’m on my way to
the Mustang plant right now,
and it’s been a while since I’ve
been there.
MWD: Well, we’re really looking
forward to that one when it gets
here (it arrives in South Africa
right at the end of 2015).
JN: Not as much as I am!
MoneywebDRIVE caught a oneon-one telephonic interview
with fast-moving FMCSA president and CEO Jeff Nemeth while
he was travelling in the US, a few
days after the Ford Go Further
Africa conference.
MWD: Thanks for taking the interview on the move, Jeff. You guys
get up early in the US!
MWD: What has led to such a
revival of strong product in the
Ford stable, as a whole, and specifically in South Africa?
JN: Under Alan Mulally we created the One Ford strategy where
we decided that, rather than designing vehicles for Europe, North
America, and other regions, that
we would consolidate our design
work and incorporate preferenc-
es from all those markets into our
base design. So we could bring
the best from all regions to customers anywhere in the world.
We became lot more efficient
and we were able to put more
effort into innovation. Our cars
became much more fun to drive
and much more technologically advanced. That’s very much
in line with our brand’s pillars,
which are, quality, green, safe
and smart.
MWD: Another focus of Ford’s
product is Ford SYNC. How important is interconnectivity in the
cars of the future?
JN: Everybody’s getting more
connected. It’s moving so fast,
and our safety model for interconnectivity is Hands on the
Wheel, Eyes on the Road. We’ve
taken SYNCH, which allows
interconnectivity with voice
command, for the interconnectivity and the safety aspect of
it. The next phase is likely going
to be the car as a wi-fi hot-spot
and some of the Fords already
have that.
MWD: In terms of sales it has
been phenomenal what the
Ranger has achieved in South
Africa. What has made it such
a success, from a product point
of view?
JN: Its fuel economy is really good, for one thing. I lent a
base model Ranger single cab
model to a neighbour in Pretoria who runs a fleet of bakkies, telling him he could give
it to one of his drivers to put
on 1 000 kilometres in a week,
Ford 's Sub Saharan chief Jeff Nemeth and the new Focus RS (right), which arrives here in the seocnd quarter of 2016.
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