Ford accelerates European business with new models and in-vehicle smart tech

Just weeks after launching an intelligent fleet assistant for commercial customers, the Ford Motor Company has set out a new vision for its future in Europe, with plans for a “comprehensive” product and technology roll-out for commercial and retail customers over the next three years.

From an IT and comms perspective, the move will see the core Ford Pro brand – the commercial vehicle division within Ford Motor Company – evolve from vehicle maker to productivity partner for European businesses.

As part of its activities, Ford Pro develops solutions to deliver an always-on, connected customer experience through a suite that includes vehicles, charging, software, financing and servicing for commercial and government customers. It looks to pull connected vehicle data and integrate it into the Ford Pro Intelligence platform to arm fleet managers with a new level of insight about and control over vehicles on the road and when upfitted equipment is in use.

Since 2019, every Ford Pro vehicle has been built with an embedded modem. Today, more than 1.2 million European customers are connected, generating close to six million health signals a day.

The strategy will see Ford Pro transform from being a vehicle manufacturer to a “productivity partner” using software and services to maximise the return on every vehicle. It supports Ford’s global target to generate 25% of Ford Pro operating income from software and services. In the first quarter of 2026, worldwide paid software subscriptions rose by 30% to 879,000, with gross margins above 50%.

“Ford Pro is the backbone of our European business. We don’t just sell vans and pickups, we deliver an integrated ecosystem of vehicles, software and services,” explained Jim Baumbick, president of Ford in Europe. “Our vehicles lead the market, and around them we’ve built a productivity accelerator our competition cannot match. For our customers, that’s not just transportation, it’s a better return on investment.”

Ford Pro’s Uptime Services will use connected vehicle data and predictive intelligence to identify issues before they become problems. In 2025 alone, Ford’s connected services delivered nearly one million additional days of uptime for customers, and Ford Pro is now extending these capabilities to small businesses for the first time.

Through a new Dealer Uptime Services offer, every Ford dealer will become a dedicated uptime manager – monitoring vehicle health, reaching out proactively, and prepping parts and workshops before the vehicle arrives. Ford calculations claim that early pilots show repair times reduced by up to 50%, with 80% of repairs identified proactively.

The result for customers is said to be more uptime, more productive days and more revenue earned from every vehicle owned. For dealers, it is intended to mean more service leads, stronger customer loyalty and a “significant” uplift in revenue potential. Both types of benefits are said to have been unlocked by elevating dealers into data-enabled productivity partners equipped with the insight, tools and connectivity to keep their commercial customers earning.

Ford Pro is also expanding the product range with two new vehicles – Ranger Super Duty and Transit City – which are designed for very different but equally demanding jobs. In addition, the company said that by the end of 2029, it will launch five all-new passenger vehicles, made in Europe for Europe.