Ford's 'Mr Product', Richard Parry-Jones, sees the future of successful car sales in a pragmatic style
It's somewhat disconcerting when a leading car executive compares such a passionate purchase as a car to supermarket fare.
If it was anyone other than Welsh-born Richard Parry-Jones, then you'd be forgiven for thinking they were in the wrong industry.
Yet Parry-Jones's record means you know he's not simply another sharp-suited marketing executive who can turn his hands to selling turnips as quickly as he can to turbocharged supercars.
Parry-Jones is effectively 'Mr Product' in the Ford empire. At 45, he sits on its board of directors with the title of Chief Technical Officer, overseeing the product development for all of Ford vehicles worldwide, including at subsidiary brands such as Mazda, Aston Martin, Land Rover, Volvo and Jaguar to name but five.
This is the man who in his earlier role as head of product development in Europe, gave us the Ford Ka, the Puma, the Focus and the Mondeo. With a background in mechanical engineering and an interest in motorbikes and motorsport, there's no questioning his 'petrolhead' credentials.
The comparison with supermarkets stems from his belief that the car world is rapidly changing and to keep up with the trends, the car industry must be a lot more flexible.
Speaking to The Irish Times before he addressed students at the Smurfit School of Business at UCD earlier this week he asked, "If you went to a supermarket 25 years ago, what choice did you have? Local produce, traditional goods, limited choice.
"What have you now? An enormous variety of goods from around the world. Is there any way of satisfying customer demand for variety? What else do you notice? Demand for freshness. Variety and freshness is what the successful supermarkets are offering and that's what we've got to do."
In that light, he predicts that the current rapid expansion of model ranges is set to continue, and the lifespan of cars is set to gradually shrink.
"Customers demand choice; they are ruthless and will not compromise. They will only take what precisely fits their emotional and rational needs, and if somebody offers them a more precise fit than what we at Ford are able to offer them, they won't buy our car, so we really don't have any choice here.
"Our job is to figure out what the customer wants and find ways to meet those needs within an economic solution. "
For consumers that means a lot more models to choose from and a lot less time before models are updated or replaced.
The tools for creating so many different models are common parts that can be shared across a wide range of vehicles.
That's nothing new to the car industry, where the buzzwords of the past decade has been 'platform sharing' - referring to using the same chassis on a number of products.
Renault/Nissan plans to build most of its cars on three platforms while PSA Peugeot Citroën reckons it can get by with just 10. Ford, on the other hand, has over 40 platforms in its portfolio.
But for Parry-Jones, that is not a signal that it's out of touch with the trend. Instead he believes in applying the sharing of technology between models somewhat differently. For him, the key is to create common parts, particularly those not vital to a particular characteristic for a model or brand.
"Think of it like Lego. You create building blocks that allow you to reuse these things across different platforms. Platform thinking has too many constraints."
As to the range of products that will come down the line, there are no specifics, but hints that Ford's thinking is in line with the rest of the industry. So-called crossover vehicles seem to offer the greatest opportunities.
Crossovers are, in general, vehicles that combine traits from two current segments, such as estate cars and SUVs. Indeed, that sort of mix is what may be most evident in the crossover vehicles to hit our roads in the near future.
"What essentially has happened is that the market has become more fragmented. SUVs will not have the same level of share as they've enjoyed in the past. They've certainly passed their peak, though they are not going to disappear.
"What you are going to see is a surge in what are called crossover vehicles that offer many of the advantages of an SUV without the disadvantages, such as weight. They will not offer the off-road or towing capability of an SUV, which many of the SUV owners don't need. Because we don't have to include these heavy-weight features we can make these vehicles more stylish."
As to what will power the future, Parry-Jones seems slightly frustrated at the way Toyota has stolen all the limelight for hybrid technology.
"It's always worth reminding people that there are only two companies in the world that are in mass production of fully autonomous hybrid vehicles at 298 volts: Toyota and Ford. Somehow or other, people have got the message that Toyota has them, but they are constantly overlooking the fact we were the world's first fully-hybrid SUV (the Ford Escape, which is not sold in Europe).
"I don't think it's credible to say Ford is caught out by the hybrid revolution in north America."
