Last week, we learned that Ford Motor Company has plans to pull out entirely from Japan and Indonesia, ceasing the sale of vehicles in both markets by the end of 2016.
As Ford Motor Co. sees it, neither country has any additional market share up for grabs, and sales in each are miniscule.
In Indonesia, reports Automotive News, the ten best-selling automotive brands are all Japanese, taking up a staggering 97 percent of the market. The import market share is only slightly better in Japan, where 94 percent of all car sales are for domestic brands. What’s more, Japan’s population is ageing and diminishing, so that total industry sales are expected to decline year-over-year through 2020.
“It has become clear that there is no path to sustained profitability, nor will there be an acceptable return over time from our investments,” summarized Ford Asia Pacific VP of Communications Karen Hampton.
Last year, Ford Motor Company sold just 4,968 vehicles in Japan, and about 6,000 in Indonesia, according to Automotive News. Compare that to the 15,000 units per annum that Ford Motor sold in Japan in 1996, or the one million vehicles it sold in China just last year, and one can appreciate the futility of continuing to sell in Japan and Indonesia.
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