Ford wooing customers
Kuga debacle pushes company to improve customer relations, service, new boss says
TREAT me better and I will love you again. This approach forms part of Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa’s (FMCSA) campaign to win back the hearts and minds of customers in the wake of last year’s heavily publicised Kuga engine fire debacle.
Newly appointed managing director for Ford’s sub-Saharan region, Dr Casper Kruger, gave this candid insight yesterday into one of the country’s more notorious motoring episodes.
Kruger replaced Jeff Nemeth at FMCSA. Nemeth oversaw the Kuga crisis that made headlines in December last year and January this year, in which more than 40 1.6-litre Kuga vehicles caught fire, leading to Ford issuing a recall of the model in January.
Addressing the topic “Building Brands in a Changing World”, Kruger was speaking at a Nelson Mandela University School of Management Sciences’ “Current Conversations in Management Sciences” event at the Business School auditorium.
His comments came amid Ford’s rollout of the second phase of its Kuga recall.
“There is no magic fix [to the loss of trust and brand equity] but we are slowly and steadily turning this around and customers are warming to us again,” Kruger said.
He acknowledging that the safety-critical failure on some models had damaged the brand.
Devoting a substantial amount of time to Ford’s experience around the matter, Kruger said while recalls were common in the automotive sector, Ford addressing the fire-related issues had been challenging.
“Recalls are a fact of life but can be positive. They provide the opportunity to fix things,” he said.
“However, this was a fire-related issue, as opposed to something like an airbag. This made the challenges very emotional, especially for customers.”
Kruger said the company was turning the opportunity of the recall campaign into positivity by providing an improved customer experience.
“We have now changed the way we do business and we are seeing results. We have positive improvements,” he said.
“Many of those who were affected are now slowly warming and coming back to the company.”
Kruger said many consumers now preferred to post any discontent on social media channels, rather than approaching the companies involved.
“Companies need to find ways to get customers to bring those issues back to the company. We need to get customers back to approaching us,” he said.