The Saudi market is the largest in the region for Ford, and its dealership near Riyadh is the marque’s biggest globally, according to Thierry Sabbagh, managing director of Ford Middle East.
He confirmed in an interview with Arab News that he sees a bright future for Saudi Arabia with Saudi Vision 2030.
Best-selling Ford models in the Kingdom include the Taurus full-size sedan and the mid- and full-size sport utility vehicles (SUVs), Explorer and Expedition. Ford also invests in many social and environmental initiatives in the region.
These are excerpts from the interview:
Q: How did the Saudi market develop for Ford last year and during the first quarter of 2017?
A: Saudi Arabia is one of the most important markets for Ford in the Middle East. While the industry overall is seeing challenges in the region, we see a lot of opportunities for growth especially as our local dealer partners continue investing in the Ford business. For example, just recently, Al Jazirah Vehicles Agencies Co. (AJVA) held the grand opening of one of the world’s largest Ford dealerships under one roof, out of Riyadh. That is an outstanding achievement for AJVA as it observes its 30th anniversary as the Ford importer-dealer in Saudi Arabia. AJVA is also building on its existing customer satisfaction initiatives with investments in its aftersales business and service excellence initiatives. For example, it is one of the very first Ford partners to implement an enhanced Ford Service Excellence standard to continue to deliver higher levels of customer satisfaction.
As for Lincoln, during the first quarter of the year, we launched the highly anticipated Lincoln Continental and it has received strong demand across the region. This flagship sedan is designed and engineered to deliver an effortless driving experience conveying elegance, athleticism and dynamics.
Q: What new drivetrain technology is Ford planning to introduce to the Saudi market this year?
A: Currently, in terms of fuel-efficient powertrains, we do offer our award-winning EcoBoost engine technology on almost every Ford and Lincoln vehicle. This innovative engine technology not only delivers high fuel efficiencies but also maintains the performance and power that our customers expect from larger engines.
Q: In the context of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, what is the relative rank and size of the Saudi market and how important is it to Ford?
A: There is no doubt that Saudi Arabia is our largest market in the GCC and the Middle East overall, and our commitment to this key market continues to go from strength to strength. Our local dealer partners are equally committed to the Ford business as evidenced by their continued investments in expanding their network and their focus on delivering a great customer service as well as making original parts available across the Kingdom. We also continue to work together to deliver the products that our Saudi customers want, such as the recently launched Ford F-150 Raptor pickup and the new Lincoln Continental.
Q: Given the Vision 2030 reform plan, has Ford considered increasing its investment in the Saudi market?
A: We are fully committed to the Saudi market and to our customers there. With Saudi Vision 2030, we see a bright future for the Kingdom and we trust that the diversification of its economy will reap positive outcomes for all industries. Our local dealer, AJVA, continues to invest in the Ford business as evidenced by the opening of the world’s largest showroom in Riyadh. We also continue working with them to deliver some of the best customer ownership experiences in the Kingdom. But our investments do not stop at the business. Ford believes in investing in the local communities where we serve our customers through a diverse and rich basket of community initiatives such as the Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy, which we concluded in Jeddah in March, in partnership with Effat University and the Virginia Commonwealth University, where 50 Saudi women entrepreneurs went through a three-day workshop and received professional guidance and tools to develop their businesses. In addition to this, we completed our fourth year of Driving Skills for Life in the Kingdom, delivering safe driving skills to university students in Jeddah and Riyadh. Add to this our Conservation and Environmental Grants program, which runs for the 17th consecutive year, encouraging and funding local community projects in the Kingdom and the region. Our intention is to continue the strong momentum we have in Saudi Arabia and to help create sustainability for our business and community partners.
Q: How did the distributors’ dealership network develop in the past year and what new services have you added?
A: AJVA continues to invest in the Ford business and we commend them for their passion for the brand and the business overall. Thirty years into the business and they have invested heavily in growing their network across the Kingdom and continue to do so. Their recent Khurais branch is a testament to the drive of their leadership team and their ongoing ambition to take the Ford and Lincoln brands further.
Q: What new autonomous driving features can consumers expect in Ford cars in this year’s model range?
A: We have a lot of opportunities ahead of us as we transform Ford Motor Company into a mobility company in our region... We continue to focus on and invest in our core business and build on our strengths, while we pursue emerging opportunities with Ford Smart Mobility — our plan to be a leader in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience, data and analytics. Ultimately, our vision is to help make people’s lives better by changing the way the world moves ... just like Henry Ford did more than a century ago.
Ford is not new to autonomous technology. In fact, most of our vehicles currently feature semi-autonomous technologies such as the adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping system, etc.
Q: Which are your best-selling models in Saudi Arabia and what type of consumers are you seeking in the Kingdom?
A: Our aim is to deliver the products that our customers in Saudi Arabia want. Currently, our best-sellers in the Kingdom are the full-size sedan, Taurus, as well as the mid- and full-size SUVs, Explorer and Expedition. Having said that, our full-size pickup the F-150 and the smaller Ranger pickup are equally in demand in the Kingdom, which is a true testament to the popularity that the Built Ford Tough range and the Ford SUV lineup enjoy. And we are very pleased with the recent introduction of the all-new Ford F-150 Raptor in Saudi Arabia. This truck epitomizes Ford’s strong truck leadership and heritage and is the segment leader hands down.
Ford Mideast chief: KSA is our largest market in region
Ford Mideast chief: KSA is our largest market in region
Price cuts drive sales of Saudi-owned electric car
- Lucid delivers more vehicles than expected as it prepares to launch luxury new Gravity SUV
RIYADH: The majority Saudi-owned electric car maker Lucid delivered more vehicles than expected in the past three months as price cuts helped boost demand.
The company delivered 2,394 cars from April to June 30, above analysts’ predictions of 1,940.
Lucid produced 3,838 vehicles in the first six months of 2024 and needs to make more than 5,162 cars by end of the year to meet its annual output forecast of 9,000. It made 8,428 cars in 2023.
“I think at this point everything is shaping for them to achieve that,” said Andres Sheppard, senior equity analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald. Lucid will produce and deliver more cars in the second half of the year because of the usual seasonal effects on the industry, he said.
Demand for electric vehicles has grown more slowly than expected pace in the past year, under pressure from high borrowing costs, economic uncertainties and consumer preference for hybrid alternatives.
Lucid and the market leader Tesla have responded by slashing prices and offering incentives such as cheaper financing options. Lucid, which is 60-per-cent owned by the Public Investment Fund, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, cut the price of its flagship Air model by 10 percent in February.
Its new Gravity SUV model, a rival for Tesla's Model X, goes into production this year and will cost about $80,000.
Treat for local fans as Berlin set for Formula E double-header
- Germany leads both Drivers’ and Teams’ championships with Pascal Wehrlein and his TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team topping the tables
- Tempelhof Airport’s notorious concrete slab track set to be a tough test for drivers as the GEN3 race car competes in Europe for the first time
Formula E fans at the historic Tempelhof Airport Circuit in Berlin this weekend will, for the first time in championship history, get to cheer a German team and driver at the top of the standings going into the 2023 SABIC Berlin E-Prix double-header.
The Porsche 99X Electric has proven to be the benchmark car package in Season 9 with Pascal Wehrlein winning twice in the first three races to lead the Drivers’ World Championship and putting his TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team at the top of the Teams’ standings.
Great Britain’s Jake Dennis of Avalanche Andretti Formula E, the Porsche customer team, is 24 points behind Wehrlein in second and under pressure from Nick Cassidy (Envision Racing), just a point back in third after three consecutive appearances on the podium.
Double champion Jean-Éric Vergne (DS PENSKE) is only two points away in fourth having steered to victory in Hyderabad and finished second in Cape Town.
Jaguar’s I-TYPE 6 has emerged as the strongest competitor to the Porsche-powered cars since Round 4 in India. Cassidy has led the charge for Jaguar customer Envision Racing who sit just behind the German manufacturer in the standings.
The factory Jaguar TCS Racing team finally capitalized on its race-winning pace and energy management for a 1-3 result last time out in São Paulo as Mitch Evans and teammate Sam Bird (Jaguar TCS Racing) took to the podium. They find themselves 42 and 46 points from top spot in the Drivers’ table but with plenty of racing still to come.
Reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne (DS PENSKE) sits 11th in the standings, more than 60 points back. Retaining the title now looks like a distant dream, but he has form around Tempelhof with a win and two podiums to his name. Dominating the double-header in Berlin would put the Belgian firmly back in contention.
Berlin is the only city to have hosted a race in every season of Formula E — 16 in total. The 2.4-km Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit on the outskirts of the German capital city is a unique challenge for the teams and drivers, and a favorite of many.
Saudi-backed Lucid EV cars get global launch
- The Lucid Air has already been named the MotorTrend Car of the Year and honored as one of Time Magazine’s 200 Best Innovations of 2022
BEVERLY HILLS: Just a few weeks after Lucid Motors opened their first Middle East studio in Riyadh, and four years after the Saudi government made its initial investment of $1 billion, the vehicle manufacturer held the global launch event for their debut line of electric sedans.
And Saudi support has been influential in bringing the vehicle to fruition, according to Derek Jenkins, senior vice-president of design at Lucid.
“We wouldn't be here today without the support from the Saudi Public Investment Fund,” he said. “It allowed us to really develop our technology, not just at a concept level, but all the way through the production and deliver it to customers worldwide.”
The Lucid Air has already been named the MotorTrend Car of the Year and honored as one of Time Magazine’s 200 Best Innovations of 2022.
With the full line now launched and more planned for 2023, Lucid is working to stand out in the electric car market.
“It's a relentless obsession on efficiency as well as performance and taking the technology of electric cars to an entirely new level,” Jenkins said.
“The Lucid Air is really just the first step at that. Then we go into our SUV and then more mainstream models later on, and we really want to be at the very pinnacle of the technology.”
As they premiere their cars worldwide, Lucid has an eye on the Middle East, hoping to boost the prominence of electric vehicles in the region. They revealed plans in May for the construction of a world-class Lucid production factory in Saudi Arabia with a capacity of 155,000 electric vehicles. The plant will be located in the King Abdullah Economic City.
Jenkins continued: “The car looks amazing on the road over there. And we have a lot of people, not just from Saudi Arabia but all over the Middle East, that are fans of Lucid, and they're following Lucid very closely. So we're super excited about that.”
REVIEW: Pizzazz and power – The Ferrari F8 Spider
- The Italian supercar maker has produced an exhilarating and head-turning open-top icon
DUBAI: I’ve had a thing about Spiders — the car model, rather than the eight-legged variety — ever since Dustin Hoffman drove off into the sunset with Katharine Ross in the movie “The Graduate,” but at last I’ve had the chance to drive the real thing.
The Ferrari F8 Spider is a vastly different car from the one all those years back in the movie, but a few hours behind the wheel shows exactly why Dustin got his girl. The Ferrari F8 is just about the most exciting Italian super-sports car on wheels (although I must admit I have not yet tried the new “Aperta” version of the v-12, which has just been unveiled in Italy.)
Why Spider? The term goes back to horse-and-carriage days — it was a type of carriage with a small body and large spoked wheels that had a distinctly arachnid look. But Ferrari has laid claim to the design by offering virtually all its models in “Spider” version — an open top sports car that allows you to feel the wind and sun on your face as you go through the exhilarating Ferrari driving experience.
The technology has certainly moved on. The Graduate Spider had a quaint hand wind-down canopy. In the F8, the roof slides back silently and electronically in a few seconds, a feat you can accomplish at the touch of a rooftop button and while traveling at speeds up to 45kph. One pedestrian stood jaw-dropped in amazement as I did this on Jumeirah Beach Road in Dubai, probably expecting the roof to fly off in the jet stream.
But everyone stares at a Ferrari. The pizzazz factor is extreme, and the sleek but powerful lines of the F8 certainly draw the stares. If you like to be made a fuss of on five-star hotel forecourts, this is the car for you.
Equally, if you like neck-jerking acceleration and a roaring exhaust, this is your car. The 3.9-liter V8 twin turbo engine does 0-100kph in a scary 2.9 seconds and can reach a top speed of nearly 340kph.
Even at lower speeds, the experience is absolutely exhilarating, especially inside the Ferrari “cockpit” with the sensation of being strapped to a fighter jet. The car responds to each touch of a pedal or flick of a switch with an instant and frightening surge in power.
The acceleration in the F8 Spider is truly awesome, and even a bit frightening, especially with the top down. Flick the drive mode selector into “race” and you could be on the test track at Marinello in Italy.
I got the distinct impression at one stage of my test drive — when I gunned it as fast as I dared — that the car was about to lift off front-first from Sheikh Zayed Road, but of course that is an impossibility. The sleek aerodynamics and incredible road-holding, steering and braking technology leave you in control of the car even at eye-ball popping acceleration. Racing out of a sharp bend with the tires squealing and G-forces mounting is a real thrill.
Ferraris are supposed to be red, of course, but the one I drove was a classy golden brown, which I thought contrasted better with the yellow “prancing horse” badge. Even more potential for head-turning.
And now, the bad news. The Ferrari F8 Spider will cost in the region of 1 million dirhams ($270,000) for starters, and extras and customization will add to that. But if you want an iconic piece of high technology supercar with all the heritage of the prancing horse, you might think of it as a bargain.
REVIEW: Heritage, power and urban sophistication — Aston Martin DBX
- The British car maker has made an SUV that will appeal to Mr. and Mrs. Bond
DUBAI: I was privileged to get a glimpse of the Aston Martin DBX a few years back at the carmaker’s main production plant in Warwickshire in the UK when it was just in the concept stage, and it looked a knock-out then.
A super SUV from the maker of the vehicle of choice of James Bond, the legendary British spy? Who would say no to that idea? Certainly not elite car aficionados in the Middle East, that’s for sure, and I recall telling Aston executives back then that they should get the car to the Gulf as quick as possible, because it was sure to be a winner.
A lot has happened at Aston since then, but it is reassuring to know that the company has lived up to the promise of the super SUV, which can now be seen and bought in the cities of the Gulf. It’s also reassuring to know that my judgement back then has been proved correct — the DBX is a real show-stopper.
Aston has come under new management over the past year, to help it through another bout of financial pressure brought on by a combination of Brexit, stock market woes, and the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But it has not let those problems distract it from the main job — designing, manufacturing and selling top-class vehicles that have a distinctive British flavor, as well as an edge of excitement and — even — danger that other elite marks do not possess. The Bond heritage.
But how to combine that with the comfort, accessibility and adaptability of an SUV? Other super-car manufacturers have tried it, with varying degrees of success, but I think the DBX has produced an all-terrain vehicle that retains the pizzazz and glamour of its sports car stablemates better than most.
In the DBX, you could imagine Mrs Bond dropping the kids at school and doing a supermarket shop before handing the keys back to James for a spot of clandestine espionage. Mr Bond would be pleased to have the chance to drive it, I’d guarantee.
The one that I was lucky enough to test in Dubai was a real head-turner. My favorite hotel valet man at one of Dubai’s glitzy five-star hotels — who knows a thing or two about elite cars, having parked all of them — took a sharp intake of breath at the matt Xenon grey body paint that made the DBX look quite sinister, but also very muscular and powerful.
The wheels are big, even by SUV standards and would be sure to get you to the crest of even the most demanding sand dune, if that was your aim, or just to add to the road-holding qualities the DBX has even at high speeds and sharp corners.
A 4.0 litre V8 turbocharged engine — from Aston’s German partner Mercedes — speeds you from 0 to 100km in 4.5 seconds and deliver a top speed of just under 300kph. Mrs Bond will be fine with that. James might want just a little a bit more but that’s a minor quibble — and in any case he could flick it into Sport+ mode when in hot pursuit of a villain.
Aston’s sound system — encased in leather like the rest of the interior — belts out the decibels through 14 strategically placed speakers that allow you to hear the music even above the distinctive deep-throated growl of the engine.
It is an SUV for sure, with plenty of space and comfort in the back and a boot that will carry everything you’ll want, including the dog. (One option is a pet-package that includes a washing facility for muddy post-walk paws, which would be equally useful for sandy feet.)
One thing I really liked was a huge sliding roof that pulled back to give you a skyline view and instantly made the interior look even more spacious. Great for night-time cruising in the high-rise cities of the Middle East.
The DBX starts at AED837,000 ($228,000), but extras — courtesy of Aston’s Q department — will probably make it a near AED1 million investment. That’s well worth it for a car that combines heritage, power and urban sophistication in one very head-turning package.
