Ford says ‘Sayonara’ to Japan (and ‘Selamat tinggal’ to Indonesia)

Ford has revealed it is to exit the Japanese and Indonesian markets during 2016, stopping sales and closing dealerships, as it can make no profits.

When you think of Ford, you tend to assume it has a significant presence in all major markets around the world, and although not all markets may be profitable all the time, the sales numbers are significant enough to make it viable to continue.

But it seems that’s a long way from the case in Japan and Indonesia.

In fact, Ford’s market share in Japan, where it has 52 dealerships, is a tiny 0.1 per cent, and in Indonesia, where it has 44 dealerships, its market share amounts to just 0.6 per cent.

That amounts to just 5,000 new car sales a year in Japan and 6,000 in Indonesia, and Ford has decided it’s just not worth the effort any more and has announced that the will be leaving both markets completely before the end of 2016.

Non domestic cars have never done terribly well in Japan, but Ford Japan has given it a good bash by offering a full range including the Fiesta, Focus, Mustang, EcoSport, Kuga and Explorer, but with such poor sales – and seemingly no prospect of improving them as car sales in Japan fall generally – Ford will shutter up dealerships and leave Japan.

Ford Indonesia suffers a different problem, with big import duties making the range of cars they offer – EcoSport, Everest, Focus and Ranger – far too expensive compared to locally-built Japanese offerings. So Ford are going the same route in Indonesia by closing dealerships and stopping all imports.

Sometimes you have to know when to fold.