Ford Launches Omnicraft Parts Brand to Cleverly Steal Everyone Else's Business
A few months from now, if you’re driving your Chevrolet to get serviced and accidentally pull into a Ford automotive center, they will probably have you covered. In a bid to snag a little piece of everyone else’s action, Ford is launching a new parts brand for vehicles made by other automakers.
Omnicraft, the first new brand for Ford’s customer service division in over half of a century, is part of a clever plot to steer consumers toward the Blue Oval while capitalizing on the thriving parts industry. The United States imports nearly $150 billion in auto parts from China each year. Omicraft gives Ford the opportunity to take a stab at usurping some of that business for itself.
Considering that the average car has been on the road for eleven years now, rolling out this this brand is a minor stroke of genius.
While fixing competitors’ vehicles at a Ford dealership provides a golden opportunity to woo prospective customers to the showroom floor, the automaker is serious about growing its parts business. Motorcraft underwent a massive restructuring program last year designed to make parts more affordable and readily available.
However, Ford won’t be building the Omnicraft components itself. The company has a plan in place for suppliers to manufacture the parts for the automaker and then sell them at a profit.
Ford is offering 1,500 Omnicraft parts to start things off — common items like oil filters, struts, alternators, brake pads, and rotors. That should expand into 10,000 components within three years, said Frederiek Toney, president of Ford’s customer service division.
“Omnicraft is a significant benefit to any vehicle owner who needs parts or to have their vehicle serviced,” said Toney. “Now, owners of non-Ford vehicles have access to quality parts at a competitive price, backed by Ford and installed by Ford’s world-class certified technicians.”
Parts should start arriving at almost every Ford and Lincoln dealership in the U.S. later this month, with certified repair shops following. Parts and labor performed at Ford dealerships will include a two-year warranty, which is the same warranty offered by Ford’s Motorcraft brand.
[Image: Ford Motor Company]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Everybody saying "nobody is going to buy non-Ford parts at the Ford dealer" is ignoring that this effort isn't targeted at the very small DIY minority of us left in the car world. I think this is smart of Ford, for a couple reasons: - Their dealerships already try to get non-Ford repair business. My local dealer (Thoroughbred Ford, Kansas City, MO) pushes this hard and uses the Owner Advantage Rewards program as the carrot - 5% back on all the service you get, regardless of the car's make. - Cars are becoming more reliable (100k+ spark plugs, lifetime transmission oil, etc.), lessening the need for regular maintenance. The Takata recall isn't going to last forever and those techs will need something to work on! - Going forward, when electrics have a bigger share of the market, there will be even less repairs needed since there's so much less mechanical tech on them and lots of things will get fixed wirelessly through software updates, I think. So again, less need for repairs. And if it doesn't work, it's not going to have much effect on the Ford brand, or even the Motorcraft one - that's why this is such a deliberately separate brand from them.
Every Ford Dealer sells tons of used cars from other makes. It should not be too difficult to convince a customer that is buying one of those cars from you to think about using you for service and repairs. This makes perfect sense and will likely become the norm across the industry. Especially for cars that are not widely represented with dealerships in every little village, such as a Fiat 500 in South Dakota or a Mazda in some backwater in Iowa for example.