Ford increases push for market share with new in car IT system

'The automotive industry outside of the Middle East has been going through some major restructuring as a result of oil prices and a shift towards smaller cars,' Ford's Middle East Managing Director, Waldo Galan, told AME Info.

'In the Middle East we've maintained a robust industry, which seems to be growing at a fast pace and which has allowed us to gain increased momentum. Ford here has been growing year on year at 33%.'

The Gulf is still a relatively small market in global terms. The US regularly shifts over 12 million units a year, with the European and Asian markets also shifting multi-million figures. In contrast, the region currently accounts for one million units.

'The Gulf and Levant reach one million units, that pales almost into insignificance compared to the 12 million in the US. But it is very important to us as it is an emerging market and it is growing quickly,' says Galan.

'It is also important in terms of trends, not just automotive ones but technology, fashion and everything.'

With this in mind Ford has teamed up with IT giant Microsoft to work together on the 'Sync' in-car entertainment and lifestyle system. The system will come as standard in the all the manufacturer's 2009 models in Ford, Mercury and Lincoln cars.

'The Sync allows us to provide something that is unique because no other manufacturer offers that. It gives us a leg up in the innovation stakes,' Galan noted.

'It is no secret that Microsoft are the leaders in platform development and software development. They've had a car division in existence for a few years now, so we worked with that. Microsoft provides us not only with a very solid platform but also with a great deal of credibility in front of the consumer base.'

The Sync is part of a new generation of in car system. It is voice programmable and actively links in with the driver and passengers' blue tooth mobile phones or music players. It also does not need programming to input voice recognition as in previous similar systems.

'One of the key features is that it's programmable and updateable,' says Galan. 'Right now, in the more mature market of North America you can have it fully programmable with GPS, it's voice activated, it'll speak to you when you ask it to find you a restaurant, it'll tell you how to get there. And it's all hands free.'

'I have Samsung device that's Bluetooth enabled and as soon as I got into the car it asked my if I wanted to download my database, and within 15 seconds it was ready,' says Microsoft's Director of the Developer and Platform Group, Vimal Sethi. 'It works the same way with my mp3 player too. While I'm driving I can say 'play artist; rhianna' and it just does it. It's really simple, there's no training required or voice recognition input needed. You don't have to record a name for it to recognise it. I'll be honest, we're excited.'

'It's been very successful in the US where people are starting to choose their car according to the technology in it,' Sethi adds.

'Public reaction has been terrific, especially with the youth and more techno-savvy generation that is growing up now in the States and the Middle East. It provides them with something that can't be found outside their home, it integrates their lifestyle. It syncs into your Bluetooth devices, your phone, and it does it by you just asking it to,' agrees Galan.

'The price is negligible. It's ridiculously cheap when you consider what you get. I drive with it in the new Flex model that we are going to release in a few days, and I find I can't do without it, I find myself missing it when I'm in a different car.'

The Sync currently runs in English, French and Italian, although Microsoft is working on the Arabic version, which they hope to release soon.