A change in priorities: Ford Philippines to focus more on customer satisfaction

1. Ford Philippines: PK Umashankar

A couple of months ago, Ford Philippines gained a new Managing Direction to replace Bert Lessard who went back to his home country of Canada. The new director’s name is PK Umashankar and he isn’t just some new face in the automotive industry or even at Ford for that matter.

Pk Umashankar, or Uma, a nickname the man prefers, is actually a certified veteran. In fact, he had been with Ford India for 19 years with roles whose responsibilities span operations, customer service, and marketing.

Here's Director Pk Umashankar himself. An engineer, a PR specialist, and a logistics expert all in one!

So yeah, the guy is definitely familiar with the ins and outs with regards to Ford and business and automotive industry-savvy as well. He was also a general manager year and a year ago who helped launched India’s first Ford branded vehicle; the Figo. If that doesn’t cement the man’s credibility in iron, we don’t know what will. So in short, the guy’s no slouch.

2. Ford Philippines: The Challenge

While it has been reported that sales had been softening for Ford Philippines, the relatively new managing director isn’t that concerned nor is he fazed. But that isn’t his only concern nowadays because apart from focusing too much on market share, Uma instead wants Ford to provide a solid customer experience, i.e. to improve the company’s ability to please their brand users for the long term.

That after all has been proved time and time again with Japanese manufacturers and their vehicles that happy customers who actually loved their experience with a brand will definitely want to buy from the same brand for years to come.

>>> Visit our Ford cars for sale section to get the best price.

3. Ford Philippines: The solution

So Ford Philippines is currently in the position to this just this. They’ve expanded their dealership network greatly and they’ve also shaved off a bit from their maintenance costs. Uma though, being the go-getter executive that he’s shaped up to be, wants to expand on this by directing his team to practice and learn some more “soft skills.”

Also notable is that Director Uma actually takes the time to read open customer issues because he says that he treats customer experience is an investment.

Ford Clark, of the Ford Philippine's newest dealerships

And like we’ve said before, depending on whether it’s positive or otherwise, will make or break a company’s performance in the long run. As such, Director Uma, with the help of his team have begun initiatives to be more open to their dealer partners and owners.

Director Uma also wants to eliminate uncertainty when a customer brings his/her vehicle in for repair. He wants everything to be transparent like when you part will arrive or when the job will be done etc.

Which of course Uma has vast experience with due to his time in Thailand where he had managed to source parts and get them delivered in a timely fashion through the use of technology. This enables Uma and his team to provide an estimated time of arrival for parts.

>>> Check out for the latest changes in Ford Philippines price.

4. A timely change of pace for Ford Philippines

Ford is currently the fifth largest manufacturer in terms of sales as of the 2019 Q2 performance report just below Suzuki and just above Honda. Now we think Ford can improve this by a lot in the future if Uma’s initiatives will push through and prove to be effective. As we’ve said, a happy customer will become loyal to a brand which will in-turn mean a future sale as well.

2019 Ford Ranger Raptor, who says we can't have nice yet affordable performance vehicle once in a while?

Also, note that Ford is about to and has recently released potentially brilliant vehicles such as 2019 Ford Ranger Raptor, and the recently improved 2020 Ford Everest. All of which is greatly anticipated or being thirsted over by a lot of would-be car buyers right now.

So yeah, if Ford Philippines just performs up to the priority change Director Uma has set for the company to focus more on customer satisfaction, well…we think it’ll solidify Ford’s position more here in the Country.

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