Having made a big dent in Toyota Hilux’s dominance of the SA bakkie market, Ford has trained its sights on its posh brother, the Fortuner.In three years, the Ford Ranger bakkie has gone from being just one of the herd to Toyota’s only real challenger in the volume stakes. Now, Ford Southern Africa marketing head Neale Hill hopes the new Everest sports utility vehicle (SUV) can do a similar job on the Fortuner.With consumers worldwide demanding versatile vehicles, Ford, like other manufacturers, is feeding the frenzy. Almost a quarter of its sales globally are of SUVs. By 2020, says Hill, it’s forecast to rise to 29%.Like the Hilux and Fortuner, the Ranger and Everest are manufactured off the same chassis. Until recently, however, the Everest was imported into SA. Now that it’s built at Ford’s Silverton, Pretoria, plant, the company can offer more derivatives.Though there are plenty of other SUV competitors, Hill makes it clear that the Fortuner is the main target, and is betting tha...
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