Ford Trucks enters Romanian market, partners with Cefin trucks

Ford Trucks entered the Romanian market through an exclusive partnership with Cefin Trucks, which was named exclusive importer and distributor. In 2017 Cefin Trucks plans to sell 185 new Ford Trucks units, and estimates a sales figure of 300 units in 2018.

Cefin Trucks will provide sale and post-sale services and act as the official distributor of spare parts to Romania. The activity will start at Cefin Trucks’ headquarters in Bucharest and will extend through the company’s distribution network or that of selected partners. Cefin Trucks will use for Ford Trucks operations its entire sale and post-sale infrastructure network for commercial vehicles, which it has developed in Romania starting 1995. The network is projected to cover at least 8 locations by 2018.

Cefin Trucks will receive an EUR 1.5 million capitalization to boost commercial activity and to finance the necessary stock. Existing activities, such as sale and servicing of used trucks will be the development pillars of this new operation. The material assets of the company will be transferred to the new commercial operations dedicated to Ford Trucks: the staff, systems, client data base, the management team as well as the ongoing business.

“We are proud that we have been selected by the Ford Trucks team, at the end of a very rigorous evaluation and selection process, which took one year. It is an honour for Cefin Trucks to represent a brand of this level in Romania,” said Stefano Albarosa, CEO and founder of Cefin Trucks.

The Ford Trucks distribution will become an essential component of the Cefin Trucks strategy in Romania, company representatives said. The operations will be run from the company’s Bucharest headquarters. Covering 47.139 sq. meters, it is one of the main centers of sale and post-sale of trucks in Central and Eastern Europe. The network’s coverage area will include, alongside the Bucharest area, Timisoara, Arad and Deva.

The contribution of Ford Trucks to the company’s turnover is estimated to over EUR 12 million in 2017. “In order to reach this type of objectives and to support the continuous development of the Ford Trucks network in Romania we will significantly enlarge the existing team […]. Due to our long direct experience as a sale and post-sale center for commercial vehicles, we fully understand the need of a modern and dynamic dealer network,” Albarosa added. Our “medium term objective is to turn Ford Trucks into a top brand in Romania,” he concluded.

Ford has also partnered with UniCredit Leasing, which will provide preferential conditions to clients for purchases in leasing as well as for stock financing. Moreover, Ford Trucks vehicles will come equipped with a pre-installed system developed by Viasat Romania. The system will provide information such as position, fuel consumption and distance traveled, and can be integrated in ERP systems and used as independent information provider. Each purchased truck will come with a two-year free subscription.

In 2016, it is estimated that around 9,000 trucks will be registered on the Romanian market, on the > 16 MAM (maximum authorized mass) segment, 30 percent more than in 2015.