Ford’s market response

Further ramifications about the VW scandal were underlined this week when Ford said it believes it has the capability to massively ramp up petrol engine fitment in Europe if there is a big backlash against diesel in the wake of the VW dieselgate affair and potentially rising anti-diesel sentiment among consumers and regulators.

Ford CEO Mark Fields told analysts this week that the company is well-positioned to respond to “wherever the marketplace goes”.

He said that Ford’s total sales in Europe are about 55% diesel, but that diesel share falls to about 44% on passenger cars, below the industry level.

“We do have the capability to actually go up to about 80% of petrol engines,” he added.

He also said that it is “too early to tell what changes in the marketplace we will see.”

He added that Ford has not seen any changes in terms of customer ordering, but has seen “a little bit of uptick” and interest on diesel on the build-and-price, Internet marketing tool the company has.