Ford claims that global demand for cars will double to two billion vehicles a year in 20 years’ time, up from the current total of one billion a year. This prediction comes from Bill Ford, executive chairman of the company and great grandson of founder Henry Ford.

‘In the next decade 75% of the global population will live in cities,’ he said. ‘Our challenge is to develop cars that communicate with each other and with the world around them.’

Stephen Odell, president of Ford of Europe, Middle East and Africa, reinforced this desire for of growth. ‘Throughout the economic crisis our plan wasn’t about surviving, it was about growing,’ he said. ‘We have seen 10 straight months of year-on-year growth in Europe and we are on track to be back in profit by 2015.’

Speaking at Ford’s Go Further dealer and press meeting in Barcelona, where the company announced that it will finally build the iconic Mustang sports car for Europe by 2015, Mr Odell said that the European automotive industry will experience 20% growth over the next five years. At a similar event last year he announced that Ford would launch 15 new vehicles in five years. That plan has been revised upwards, to 25 new models in that same five-year timescale.

To meet this growing demand, Ford took the wraps off two concepts, a next-generation five-door Ka at the smaller end and the Edge SUV at the heavier end of the scale. The company also has plans to move upmarket, with its recently announced Vignale range, based on Mondeo and S-Max models.

Ford said that 20% of Kuga sales and 15% of S-Max sales in the last few years have come from customers moving out of traditional premium brands, with the highest Titanium trim level accounting for almost 40% of those models sold in Europe.

However the biggest growth is expected to come from SUV sales, with the market for SUVs in Europe rising by 35% between 2007 and 2012.

‘Over the next five years we will almost triple our SUV sales in Europe,’ said Jim Farley, Ford’s global vice president of marketing, sales and service.

The company’s SUV range now starts with the Ecosport compact crossover, which arrives in Europe in the coming months. Built in South America, Ford has already sold 130,000 Ecosports in the Latin American market.

Ford will produce more than 100,000 Kuga models this year and the range will be topped by the Edge (pictured), Ford’s first large SUV developed for the European market.

‘We expect to win over one million customers in the next five years with our SUV line-up,’ said Mr Farley.

fleetworld.uk

6 Comments on "Ford: Global car market to double in next 20 years"

DC on Thu, 19th Dec 2013 3:39 am 



So, 2 billion gas-burning trash-cans and 9-10 billion eaters? Good thing the population is ‘declining’ eh? Maybe we have been trying to control the wrong population all along. Maybe we need birth controls on the gas-burning car.

Madness is too kind of word for this, and these amerikan corporate scumbags. People worry, and rightly so about US\UK\Israeli war-mongering and their state-sponsored terrorism around the world and the threat they represent. But if you want to know who will likely push us all over the edge,

Have you driven a ford lately?….

Davy, Hermann, MO on Thu, 19th Dec 2013 11:18 am 



I get so tiered of the linear predictions of the mainstream media, ngo’s, governments, lobbyist, think-tankers and bloggers. At some point things stop going straight linear and the optimization of outcomes stops. This thinking is so pervasive today that it clouds normal peoples perspectives. It is a product of all the optimism of today and the human psychology of normal. We have had a good run as a people but at the expense of now having no Plan B and pooping in the nest! The new normal is here we just don’t know it yet

Makati1 on Thu, 19th Dec 2013 11:30 am 



Davy, they are trying to keep the dream alive, even though it is starting to smell as the decay sets in. The capitalist/techie world cannot accept that their greed and fantasies cannot last much longer. The party is over. We will see more and more of this BS as the cliff approaches.

mo on Thu, 19th Dec 2013 1:25 pm 



Its all BAU, bullshit as usual

GregT on Thu, 19th Dec 2013 2:01 pm 



“This prediction comes from Bill Ford, executive chairman of the company and great grandson of founder Henry Ford.”

I’ll bet Henry would roll over in his grave, if he could see the absolution destruction that his dream has caused the planet Earth. All Billy cares about, is monetary gain.

yellowcanoe on Thu, 19th Dec 2013 10:31 pm 



Yes, it is absolutely essential that we have cars that can communicate with each other. My present car is very sad because she cannot communicate with other cars!

Joking aside, I’m amazed at how we keep adding more and more features to vehicles.