From a live press conference at IAA Transportation 2024.
Describe what Ford Pro does
The purpose of our Ford Pro business is to help our customers to thrive by increasing their productivity. And we are delivering service led solutions that are helping our customers businesses grow. Real data gathered live from connected vehicles provides real businesses with real uptime benefits. We have a special focus on maximising uptime for our customers and its truly on a scale that no other OEM in Europe can match.
The five pillars of Ford Pro are software, charging, service, financing and vehicles. In every one of those areas we strive to continuously improve our solutions to boost customer productivity.
Tell us about Ford Liive
The heart of Ford Pro’s uptime offer is Ford Liive, a connected uptime service which helps keep our customers’ vehicles on the road. Ford Liive is managed through advanced Ford Liive centres in London, Cologne, Valencia, Gothenburg and Budapest.
Globally, every day, Ford monitors over one billion data points from connected Ford Commercial vehicles. In Europe alone last year Ford Liive prevented 700,000 days of downtime and in the process we have saved our customers hundreds of millions of Euros in lost productivity. We are able to do this because working with our customers we use a huge wealth of data to intervene on service and repair requirements. As a result we are currently delivering over 99 per cent vehicle uptime to our connected customers across Europe. More than 100 Ford Liive agents are working with over 800 connected Ford Transit centres – the largest commercial vehicle network of any brand in Europe. Our agents share data, expertise and resources to resolve technical issues, expedite parts supply and support Ford Pro customers in real time.
And they have end to end visibility of all repairs going through our workshops. Our agents can see productivity of each vehicle. Servicing multiple vehicles during one single visit to the customer’s premises is a fantastic example of how Ford Pro is having real positive impacts on real businesses. Our mobile service fleet continues to expand. There are now 335 mobile service vans across eight markets in Europe and the service they provide is another highly convenient way in which Ford Pro is minimising downtime for business customers.
How is Ford Pro helping customers make the switch to electric vehicles?
Our E-Switch assist tool helps customers make informed decisions about which vehicles of their fleet are most suited for electrification. Based on the customer’s real usage data, E-Switch assist offers insight into how many daily charges an E-Transit or E-Transit Custom would need if it were to replace a diesel or petrol vehicle in their fleet. So they can target their investment where it will deliver the best returns.
Also, Ford pro provides a full range of commercial charging solutions for business customers – home, depot, public charging or a combination of these options – with hardware and software to manage costs and employee reimbursement across all charging venues. We recently announced a home charging solution for small businesses in the UK encompassing everything the customer needs, including hardware installation software and maintenance, uniquely designed for commercial users.
And what is the new Ford Pro log book?
The log book functionality that’s now part of Ford Pro telematics software is a valuable new feature that allows fleet customers to accurately record trips for business, tax or expense reporting. And this is essential for businesses whose drivers use vehicles for personal as well as professional purposes. The log book lets users categorise trips as business or private using a mobile app and it sends the information directly to the telematics system. This automated trip tracking feature facilitates faster digitised expense claims helping small businesses to manage expenses more efficiently.
Hans Schep, General Manager, Ford Pro Europe
