Ford on Monday announces a growth of 5 per cent in overal retail sales for the ASEAN region in 2014. – VNS Photo

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — US automaker Ford said total sales in ASEAN countries rose by more than 5 per cent last year to a record 100,824 units.

There were record performances in the Philippines, Viet Nam, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Myanmar, and a market share gain in Thailand despite a significant industry slowdown, it said.

Earlier Ford Viet Nam had announced growth of 71 per cent in sales to nearly 14,000 units. This enabled the company to increase its market share in Viet Nam by 1.5 percentage points to 8.9 per cent.

The versatile Ranger finished 2014 as the country's top selling pick-up truck as sales soared 161 per cent to 4,800 unites driven by strong demand throughout the year.

Elsewhere, Ford unveiled its "Smart Mobility Plan" at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the US, last week.

"We are driving innovation in every part of our business to be both a product and mobility company – and, ultimately, to change the way the world moves," the company's president and CEO, Mark Fields, said.

"We see a world where vehicles talk to one another, drivers and vehicles communicate with the city infrastructure to relieve congestion, and people routinely share vehicles or multiple forms of transportation for their daily commute.

"The experiments we're undertaking today will lead to an all-new model of transportation and mobility within the next 10 years and beyond."

At the show, Ford announced 25 mobility experiments around the world this year to test breakthrough transportation ideas to create better customer experiences, more flexible user-ship models and social collaboration that can reward customers. — VNS