Ford Fiesta supply returns to normal after tsunami

The Ford Fiesta was an unwitting victim of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March – but supply is expected to return to normal from this month.

Sales of Ford’s baby hatch were up 25 per cent in the first three months of this year, but the monthly tally has been cut in half since April by a shortage of supply from the Thailand factory that makes the Fiesta. Although the Fiesta factory was not affected by parts supply out of Japan, Ford couldn’t ship completed cars because the number of freighters from Thailand were cut as other manufacturers were forced to reduce production of their vehicles.

“It wasn’t a parts issue with the tsunami, it was shipping lanes,” says Ford Australia Vice President Marketing, Sales & Service, Beth Donovan. “Because some competitors couldn’t get parts they weren’t shipping as many cars out, so the number of ships leaving Thailand was cut.”

Instead, Ford gave priority to shipping the runout model of the Ranger out of Thailand so it wouldn’t be caught with an outdated model later in the year.

“We had to prioritise what we could get on those boats, so we went with Ranger,” she said. “Otherwise (later in the year) we would have had new Ranger and all these old Rangers that haven’t been shipped yet.”

Donovan says shipping from Thailand has now returned to normal and a boatload of Fiestas should be arriving shortly.

“Fiesta returns to normal pretty much this month,” she said.