Ford has revamped the product planning and marketing teams for faster response to a rapidly changing market environment.
Following repeated criticism by dealers and industry watchers of Ford Australia's inability to respond quickly to market changes, the new corporate product planning and marketing structure is already making a difference. The new structure, which was established in 2007, replaces three parallel product planning streams with a single market-driven product planning force operating at the dealer and customer level.
Overseen by Ford Australia Vice President Marketing and Sales, Mark Winslow, the new product marketing division is headed by Christine Wagner (pictured). Her previous assignment was to overhaul Ford's light commercial range, which was transformed through the introduction of a successful new Transit range and a switch from Courier to Ranger.
It was an excellent training ground for her new role. In the former position, she integrated light commercials sourced from around the world with local models into a single, cohesive range.
She now heads up the planning and marketing of two streams, imported and local Fords. It is in her role as overseer of both streams that she will ensure local Fords fit seamlessly with imported Fords to present a uniform range in the showrooms.
Although previously there was a Ford product and marketing position, it was almost irrelevant. The main product planning activities were undertaken by separate vertical divisions for each model range, further divided into Product Planning and Product Development.
Because these divisions were backroom activities and not closely connected horizontally, it became apparent after the lacklustre Falcon BF Mark II launch in 2006 and the ongoing failure of the Focus to win sales in a boom small car market that they were not close enough to the action to respond to today's rapidly changing market.
Compounding this remoteness was the problem of having to remove staff from a long term project under the old structure to respond to short term changes in the market. Ford found that while responding to these short term market changes, the responsible staff members were distracted from their original long term planning, which in some cases had to be suspended.
It was a nightmare scenario that provides a grim insight into why Ford's often benchmark models have failed to make the sales impact that they have deserved.
Under the new structure, both the imported and local streams under Wagner have teams dedicated to responding to short term market changes, while others keep the long term projects in focus.
Since the start of 2007, the new structure has already kicked goals with a more aggressive positioning of the Ranger light commercials, extra marketing specials and unique-to-Australia Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo ranges that now include base, luxury and XR models that dovetail with the local Falcon range.
Although Ford insiders acknowledge it would have been better had it arrived earlier, the final BF Mark II Falcon XR range with its extra appearance changes announced at the Sydney Motor Show in October 2007 was a product of the new team. A much more aggressive runout 2008 BF Mark II Falcon SR with stronger XR and Fairmont overtones was another initiative.
If there is a pattern discernible in this, it's because the head of the local product stream is Rob De Filippo, who was Ford's designated manager to oversee the establishment of Ford Performance Vehicles in 2002. From 2004, De Filippo's role was to expand sales in New South Wales, arguably Ford Australia's single most challenging region.
De Filippo has a very clear sense of Ford's local heritage and it was under his direction that the FG XR range was further differentiated from the rest of the FG range, following the poor acceptance of the initial proposals. The aggressive and complete specification of the G6E Turbo has also put FPV on notice that the Ford envelope will not stay static.
Similar internal competition between Holden's factory engineering and design teams and the separate HSV design and engineering teams has provided real incentive for both teams to lift their game -- with dramatic results.
It now appears that the FG range will never be allowed to languish during critical market changes, as happened to various models within the previous BA-BF series. This fundamental restructure in the teams that will be driving the sales success of the FG Falcon might be more important than any single change announced in the car itself.
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