Rental companies driven by consumers

Ford has discovered the fountain of youth -- and it's powered by the company's product lines. Market research indicates that the average age of Fiesta buyers is now around 18-19 years old.

"When was the last time we saw 18/19-year olds driving Fords?" asked company president Marin Burela during last week's monthly sales briefing to the press.

Similarly, the age of Falcon G6E buyers is coming down -- now somewhere around the 35-40YO bracket.

Over quite a short space of time, the company's clientele seems to be changing significantly. Marin Burela advised that since from about November of last year through to May, a count of Falcons sold shows that the base model XT has fallen from favour drastically, but the more profitable XR and G Series models have taken up the slack.

And in case you're thinking that the diminution of XT buyers is a symptom of private fleets, rental companies and government backing away from the Falcon, Burela has a counterpoint to that view. He cites rental fleet sales, which have been down significantly in recent times, but some of the rental operators are now beating a path to Ford's door -- and it's not necessarily to buy fleet hacks at heavily discounted prices, as happened in the past.

"The level of enquiry that we have had from the major rental companies in Australia has been extremely encouraging for us," he said at last week's monthly sales briefing.

"We have signed up some very significant contracts with some of the rental companies -- and it's been done on the basis of enquiry from their customers for our products.

"It hasn't been because the rental car company said 'we want to go and buy a Ford'. It was through direct enquiry after enquiry and people saying 'I want to drive a Territory', 'I want to drive a Falcon'. 'When are you going to get a Fiesta?'

"We've actually decided we weren't going to put Fiestas into the rental market at all -- and we're getting incredible enquiry, saying 'hey look, when are you going to give us some Fiestas, because we're just getting one enquiry after another on Fiestas?'

"So we've been pushing back on that; one, because of availability and two, we think that it's not the right time to put that vehicle into the rental market at this time."

It's not just the Fiesta that's appealing to rental fleets and their customers, according to Burela.

"A lot of the demand and enquiry from the rental-car companies has been on the higher derivatives -- other than the base model. Traditionally, it's always been 'go out there and get as many XTs as you possibly can into the rental market' -- and now people are booking their holidays and they say 'Can I get an XR6?'

"The greatest disappointment we had was some of the rental companies, we had to say 'sorry, we can't give you any, because they've sold out for a period of time -- so we haven't got any to give you'.
 
Non-private buyers are beginning to buy non-fleet Falcons in larger numbers than in the past. In many cases, fleets are buying XR Falcons and G Series models for their employees on a salary package incorporating a novated-lease vehicle. Employees effectively funding a 'company car' out of their own pocket don't want an XT. They're after something a little more aspirational. Typically, that's one of the higher-grade Falcons, not the entry-level model.

That's also happening with government sales, says Burela. So, in tailoring a product range to appeal to private buyers, Ford has ironically found a formula to attract more fleet buyers as well -- they're just 'different' fleet buyers these days.

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