Ford leverages local vehicle development

FORD is relying on the capability of its locally developed vehicles in the fight against its Chinese rivals, according to its Australian marketing director Ambrose Henderson.

Addressing the influx of new OEMs from China, Mr Henderson discussed Ford’s ability to adapt to new market conditions in Australia for the course of over a century.

“(Australia) has been the most competitive market in the world for a long time,” he said.

“It was the most competitive market in the world before the Chinese OEMs started to enter the market and have the impact that they’ve had.

“And we haven’t been around for 101 years in Australia without having to go through a few changes in the market – two world wars, the GFC, COVID-19, the Great Depression—we have seen a fair bit in our history.

“I think what you've seen from Ford at every one of those changes in the industry is after refocus on what customers want, pivot and address that and deliver and win, and you’ve seen us go through that cycle many times.

“I think what you're seeing from us is going through that cycle again right there’s a new wave of competitors of course we’re assessing what they're doing as we assess every competitor as we assess what's happening around the world and consider what might be coming next.”

In 2025, the Ford Ranger ute took the title of Australia’s best-selling model for the third consecutive year in a row, with 56,555 examples sold locally.

But Chinese marques are beginning to populate the ute market that Ford has dominated in recent years.

Last year, BYD took the title of the best-selling plug-in hybrid ute (as well as the best-selling PHEV overall) with its Shark 6 PHEV, having launched the model in late-2024.

With 18,073 Shark 6’s finding Australian buyers in 2025, it was still some way off surpassing the Ranger’s total sales figures. However, it dwarfed the Ranger plug-in hybrid’s 1143 local deliveries following the variant’s launch in the middle of last year.

Beyond solely plug-in hybrid models, Ford faces competition from several Chinese brands in the ute space including GWM, Foton, LDV, JAC, and MG.

GWM and JAC have also been vocal about their local tuning programs, each having conducted testing at the former-Holden Proving Ground in Lang Lang, Victoria.

However, Ford doesn’t seem prepared just to roll over amid increased competition, with Mr Henderson pointing to the capability of Ford’s vehicles as well as its local development – rather than local tuning – program as key competitive advantages against new Chinese rivals.

“I think that’s why it’s so important that we keep talking about capability today because that is something that we think we have a sustainable long-term competitive advantage,” he added.

“We have made a decision to be based here, and invest here, and while others, that may be Chinese OEMs or might be other OEMs, talk about ‘Australian tuned’, let’s be honest, how much is Australian tuning? How much can you really change on the dynamics of the vehicle?

“I’d argue if it’s any more than five per cent, we should have a very big debate about it. It’s very insignificant in terms of how a whole vehicle comes together.

“The brake engineer, the NVH engineer, the performance engineer, they’re all based here.

“So, 100 per cent of the vehicle is really considering how it needs to perform in Australia, not just the final five (per cent) for a marketing blurb.”

Ford has invested $5 billion into local research and development in the last 10 years, with its You Yangs Proving Ground in Victoria serving as the “cornerstone” of its engineering process.

In 2021, then Ford Australia president and CEO Andrew Birkic described the proving ground as “pivotal” to the development of the current-generation Ford Ranger.

In 2022, the facility also played host to local calibration for the right-hand-drive-converted F-150 full-size pick-up.

Last year, Ford was particularly vocal about the Ranger Super Duty’s testing regime in the lead-up to the model’s Australian launch.

Specifically, the Blue Oval revealed details of several evaluation exercises including 24/7 running on the Silver Creek durability track, river crossings, and running the Super Duty while carrying 600kg of packed mud.

Building on Mr Henderson’s comments, vehicle program director Mario Brandini stressed that having the “right hardware” from the start is key to a model’s longevity.

“When you do that tuning, tuning's the last end of it. If you’re not designing it here from scratch and put the right hardware in at the start, you can’t get the tuning that you want,” he said.

“So, when you say (the) life of the car, you put the right hardware in the start, and it gives it a long life.

“If you’ve messed up at the start, it doesn’t matter how hard you work on tuning, you’re never going to get there.”

Visit GoAuto again soon for our launch review of the updated Ford Ranger and Everest.