If you’ve been spending any time on Ford’s commercial vehicle website of late then you might well be wondering what all the talk is about ‘Ford Pro.’
According to Ford itself: ‘Ford Pro is a new global business dedicated to delivering solutions to commercial customers of all sizes to accelerate their productivity.’ What does that mean in plain English, though, and how will it impact your life with the new van you’re looking to buy?
It was launched in America in May 2021 before heading to Europe in April 2022 and has five main pillars that can be loosely described as Ford Pro Vehicles, Ford Pro Charging, Ford Pro Service, Ford Pro Software and Ford Pro Finance. There are then several elements that fall under each of those subsections.
Is ‘Ford Pro’ just a new branding for Ford’s vans division?
While Ford Pro covers all vans, it isn’t just a simple rebranding of the commercial vehicle arm. It is not a direct equivalent to, say, ‘Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ or ‘Fiat Professional.’
Instead, says Andy Paton, Ford’s fleet aftermarket customer experience manager, it covers much more than that, including some car customers. The Pro element stands for ‘Productivity,’ he explains, saying that all elements are geared towards helping customers who rely on their vehicle for work purposes.
This means that it is designed to make sure that the customer, whether they are part of a huge fleet or are a sole trader that runs a single van, can spend as little time off the road getting their vehicle fixed and more time doing what they need to do to earn money.
Crucially, this applies to both vans and cars. And while (pretty much) all van drivers use their vehicle for work purposes one way or another, not all car owners do. Therefore Ford Pro covers all of the company’s vans and some cars, too. Think of it as a big umbrella that covers a large chunk of Ford’s business but not all of it.
What are the different sections of Ford Pro?
There are five main pillars of Ford Pro and although they don’t have official titles as such, they are best summed up as follows:
- Ford Pro Vehicles. This includes the sale of all new Ford commercial vehicles and some cars, if you are a business user that is. The idea is that you will be able to talk to a representative from Ford – the dealer in the first instance most likely – and you will be spoken to by someone who understands that you are after a vehicle for a specific purpose and won’t try and upsell you things you don’t want or need.
The vehicles subsection also includes conversions, so this is Ford’s way of saying ‘We will cover off the sort of changes that you need doing to your van so don’t worry about taking it elsewhere please’.
- Ford Pro Service. This covers the day-to-day running of your vehicle so means that you will get dealerships that are more amenable to business hours and have business-critical things like mobile service vans. It also covers aspects of the Ford Pro Pass app and its connectivity to dealers and Ford HQ at Dunton. More on this below.
- Ford Pro Software. This is more aimed at fleets as it looks after the things you can do with the driving and vehicle data that is created by the modem that comes as standard in almost all of Ford’s vans (apart from one very entry-level version of the Transit Courier.) This includes Ford Pass Pro.
- Ford Pro Financing. This is all about bundled financing, so it doesn’t just cover how you pay for your van, but also factors in elements such as services and EV charging.
- Ford Pro Charging. The clue is in the name for this one – it is all about getting you set up with the sort of charging posts and connections that you need, either at home or at work.
What are or is Ford Pro Vehicles?
Every new van that Ford launches as of now will be, in some form, launched by Ford Pro Vehicles as of now. This is because, with very few exceptions, they will be bought by someone who needs them for work.
Ford’s thinking is that this sort of customer, whether they are a sole trading plumber, a farmer after a Ranger or a big business wanting more than one Transit, will want a more professional approach when they walk into the dealer. Think less of the lifestyle speccing up of a vehicle with focus on colours and accessories and more conversations about the things you need to do your job.
‘Ford Pro Vehicles’ also covers the forthcoming electric vehicles in the commercial vehicle range – this process has already started with the E-Transit.
What is Ford Pro Service?
Ford Pro Service relates to the running of your vehicle, so it means dealerships with opening hours that are more amenable to business users – earlier and later opening times and servicing slots at times that suit companies that need to be on the road for example.
It also covers the mobile servicing vans that mean you might not even need to bring your vehicle into a dealer to get it serviced so it can be worked on while you are at your desk/on site.
Ford says that the on-board modem in a commercial vehicle also allows the dealer and Ford’s HQ at Dunton to connect to the car or van and analyse what is wrong. This means you should be able to contact them when there is a problem flagged up on your dashboard and the technicians can see what the engine control unit (ECU) is saying and what sort of problem they are looking at.
Not only does this mean they can advise whether you can still drive the vehicle or not (by seeing if it is just a faulty sensor or a more serious failure for example) but it also means they should be able to book it in for the right work with the right technician and order the necessary spare parts so that you can get in and out as fast as possible.
It should also help with the dreaded intermittent failures – those annoying problems that are readily obvious until you drive into the dealer and the technician takes it out for a test drive and the fault magically disappears. It can display 60 days of background information, which should be able to show exactly what has gone wrong and when, even if it doesn’t play ball when you need it to.
What is Ford Pro Software?
As all Ford’s commercial vehicles now come with on-board modems that can create all kinds of data, there are all kinds of things you can do with them. There is a selection of systems that you can get – all largely cost extras – that will tell you things like where the vehicle is, what its status is regarding fuel or charge, tyre pressures or any health issues or how it is being driven so you can tell off anyone who is careering around with a precious cargo on board.
There are plenty of aftermarket companies that will do this for those running big fleets, and some of this is Ford trying to grab a piece of that market. It will show you data from other manufacturers’ vehicles for example.
There are more basic options for those that only have a couple of vehicles, though, with the Ford Pass Pro app giving a little insight into the world of telematics – it will let you manage up to five vehicles and you can see details such as:
- Vehicle Location – handy if you forget where you parked a vehicle, or if a colleague has been vague about where they left it
- Remote Lock/Unlock – the ability to operate the door locks from afar, meaning you can let a colleague get something out without traipsing out to meet them
- Vehicle Health – this shows you things like the fuel level, oil life and tyre pressures so you don’t have to wait until you get in for a long trip to find out a colleague has left it on fumes. Again
- Alarm Notification – like those video doorbells, this tells you if the alarm has gone off even if you are nowhere near your vehicle
- Remote Start – this lets you start the engine remotely so it can be warmed and de-iced etc. Only applies to automatics
What is Ford Pro Financing?
In some senses, Ford Pro Financing is pretty simple – if you want to buy a Ford then more often than not you will be putting the cost on finance and going through the manufacturer is an easy method for you and an earner for them.
However, there are more factors these days, with more things needing financing. Ford is launching ‘FinSimple’ which allows you to pay for multiple things in one simple payment, rather than having different subscriptions.
It will allow you to pay for things like the vehicle purchase, any necessary conversions, the charging software and hardware and any management software you might want.
It can also help with your home bills if you charge an electric vehicle there overnight for work purposes. It will help you ‘cut and shut’ your bill so that the work-related costs are highlighted and kept separate.
What is Ford Pro Charging?
Ford Pro’s launch has come irrespective of the roll out of electric vehicles, says Andy Paton, but it is fortunate timing as a lot of it is relevant to EVs. It makes sense, therefore, that one of the pillars of Ford Pro is dedicated to getting you set up with the hardware and software you need to keep your van fully charged, both at home and at work.
It will also help you access more than 300,000 public chargers and sort the billing out for you, so you shouldn’t have to sign for endless different payment systems.
Will I see anything different as a buyer or owner?
Theoretically, no, you shouldn’t notice anything different, and you don’t have to start asking to talk to the Ford Pro rep when you contact your local Transit Centre or similar. In that sense, it is a branding exercise, but without being a change of brand. Ford is still Ford but it is trying to be more helpful to those that use their vehicles to be productive in a professional sense rather than having everything just geared around those that use their car as family transport.
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