From now on, Ford car brand owners and enthusiasts should have no worries, thanks to a new move by leading local car distribution titans, Motorcare Uganda.
The great news is that barely a month after Cooper Motors Corporation (CMC) ended its distributorship of Uganda’s most favorite SUV car brand, Ford has been given a new home by Motorcare Uganda and world-renowned car marketers Salvador Caetano, who are now the Ford’s newly authorized distributor-partner for Uganda.
The great news was announced earlier this month by Motorcare Uganda Chairman, Mr. Mads Kjaer, who revealed that the automobile marketing giant’s dealership of the Ford began on August 1, 1023.
Kjaer thanked the Ford makers, Ford Motor Company, for the trust placed in them, vowing to service all existing Ford customers to get an even better experience with their cars.
“It’s our priority to service all the existing Ford customers and welcome them to Motorcare as the new Ford dealer for Uganda. Our new showroom for Ford opened on August 1, with a dedicated team to service the customers and market with the next-generation Ford Ranger ad Ford Everest being launched for the first time in Uganda,” he said.
Mr. Richard Musani, the Marketing Manager for Passenger Vehicles at Motorcare Uganda, told The Inspector that following Motorcare and Salvador Caetano’s takeover of the Ford’s distribution rights, the Ford’s new home is now at Kitgum House at the Jinja Road Traffic Lights Junction in the heart of Kampala City.
He added that on top of the Ford, Motorcare also adds the Hyundai on its new automobile SUV car product range.
Explaining Ford Motor Company’s choice of Motorcare as their Equipment Original Manufacturer’s (EOM) market representatives for Uganda, Musani attributed it to the manufacturer’s desire to work with the best for maximum value for customers’ money.
“Motorcare has been in this business in Uganda for 27 years, during which they have gained immense marketing experience as the distributors of the Nissan car brand which has a very strong market share on the new automobile market in the country. Given such high brand equity, Motorcare Uganda became the natural choice to guarantee an even better experience to all our clientele and also ensure maximum value for every penny the customer spends on the Ford,” Musani explained.
Musani’s statement was emboldened by Achraf el Boustani, the Ford Motor Company Managing Director for Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa; who expressed confidence in their new partnership with Motorcare and Salvador Caetano.
“We are confident that this new step with Salvador Caetano offers the Ford brand a vital opportunity to get market share in Kenya and Uganda. Our main objective is to give to our Ugandan customers the best-in-class experience and service meeting Ford’s standards,” he said.
On his part, Gabriel Almeida, the Chief Operations Officer of Salvador Caetano expressed optimism that choosing Motorcare as their Ugandan partner will strengthen their working relations with Ford — having placed the brand in the right hands.
“Our appointment of Motorcare as our dealer-partner in Uganda secures the customers and market a professional and personal service and aftersales,” he said.
He also assured Ford clients that their new distributorship for Kenya and Uganda will go a long way in improving the Ford customer experience.
“We are thrilled to be appointed as Ford’s new distributor-partners in Kenya and Uganda. Salvador Gaetano is looking forward to strengthening our long-term partnership with Ford on the African continent and remain committed to delivering some of the best vehicle ownership experiences to Ford customers,” he said.
Integrated Operations
While still under CMC, Ford clients were used to attractive aftersales services which included, among others, friendly repair and mechanical assistance as well as flexible asset acquisition packages for their favourite Ford brands like the Ford Everest and Ford Raptor monster pickups.
On this note, Musani assured their existing and prospective customers that these services will still be extended to them — albeit in an even bigger, better and more efficient way.
“I want to assure our customers that aftersales services are at the heart of our customer satisfaction policy, so we can only improve in that aspect from time to time,” he said.
Musani for instance explained that while their Ford showroom is at Kitgum House, they have a state-of-the-art service garage at First Street Industrial Area near Vision Group offices, where all Ford owners can go at any time and get free motor diagnostic services.
“For the upcountry clients, we are going to retain our respective Ford service centers there but also ensure that we equip them with more capacity to serve our customers better,” he said. Going into details, Musani revealed that in areas where Ford has service centres which were set up by CMC, operations will be merged in case in a particular location Motorcare also has a service center. However, areas without any centres will see new centres set up so as to make the life of a Ford driver more comfortable. Plans are also in advanced stages to build a one-stop-centre state-of-the-art service bay at Kitgum house so as to service the needs of all Ford and Hyundai customers with more ease.
“We are actually planning to complete this service bay by October,” Musani said.
Ford Market Facts & Stats
With Uganda importing 2500 new cars per year, the Ford enjoys a sizeable share of the same, with its pickups ranking as the second most sold new cars on the market.
According to Musani, the Ford Everest ranges between $75,000 and $85,000 while the Ranger goes for between $47,000 and $90,000 (for the Raptor). Meanwhile, the Hyundai is priced at between $44000 and $82000.
The good news is that customers who cannot fork out lumpsum dimes to acquire the Ford can explore the company’s asset financing loan and leasing options.
One such options is where one pays 10% of the total car price and the 90% is paid in form of a loan by Stanbic Bank. The customer then finances their loan with the bank on mutually agreed terms. The other option for customers who may not wish to fully own the ford is the full maintenance leasing arrangement where a customer pays a monthly or annual rental fee and drives a car. The customer in this arrangement will only pay fuel costs as maintenance will be done by Motorcare.
