Ford Enters Japanese Market with Right-Hand Drive Models

Strategic Insights -

Ford Motor Company has begun sales of its first imported cars with right-hand drive in Japan, marking a significant expansion into the Japanese market. This move comes as the Japanese market for foreign vehicles, particularly American-made cars, has been showing strong growth. The company hopes to triple its sales of imported cars in Japan to 15,000 units this year, and has set an ambitious goal of selling 200,000 cars in Japan by the year 2000, with about half being imported.

Key Takeaways:

  • Ford has introduced right-hand drive models of its Probe and Mondeo cars in Japan, with plans to introduce right-hand drive versions of the Taurus sedan and Explorer sport utility vehicle in 1996.
  • The sales of imported motor vehicles in Japan jumped about 40 percent in the first five months of 1994 compared to the same period a year earlier, with sales of passenger cars made in the United States by the Big Three more than doubling to 13,094 vehicles.
  • Ford hopes to triple its sales of imported cars in Japan to 15,000 units this year, and has set an ambitious goal of selling 200,000 cars in Japan by the year 2000, with about half being imported.
  • The company has priced its cars in line with or sometimes slightly below equivalent Japanese cars, with the new Mustang being sold out due to its price and quintessentially American image.
  • The president of Ford Motor Company (Japan) Ltd, Konen Suzuki, stated that Ford has set a new pricing strategy, where "before us, everyone treated imports as a status symbol".

Statistics:

  • Sales of imported motor vehicles in Japan jumped about 40 percent in the first five months of 1994 compared to the same period a year earlier.
  • Sales of passenger cars made in the United States by the Big Three more than doubled to 13,094 vehicles in the first five months of 1994.
  • Ford hopes to sell 15,000 imported cars in Japan this year, and aims to reach 200,000 cars in sales in Japan by the year 2000.
  • The price of the new Mustang is 2.3 million yen, or $22,000.
  • Ford's goal is to have about half of its sales in Japan be imported cars by the year 2000.

Sources:

  • "Auto Ind., June 1995"
  • No additional sources were mentioned in the provided text.