Ford Philippines brings its test drive roadshow and globally-recognized safe driving program back to Davao City this weekend to further boost its presence in the Mindanao region.
“Davao remains a key focus area for us so we’re happy to bring our Ford Island Conquest this year after a successful run last year. We’re also excited to conduct the Driving Skills for Life program for the second time in Davao to build a bigger community of safe drivers and road safety advocates here,” shares EJ Francisco, AVP for Communications, Ford Philippines.
Ford Island Conquest back in Davao
Also on its second year, the Ford Island Conquest is back in Davao provides car enthusiasts an all-in-one custom arena where customers can check out a display of Ford’s best-selling vehicles and test drive them in one venue. It’s a cross between a scaled-down showroom and a test drive venue that put consumers in an immersive driving experience.
This year’s Ford Island Conquest will take place at the Davao Crocodile Park on December 14 to 16. Herem customers can check out and test drive the first-ever Ranger Raptor, the new Ranger, the new EcoSport, and the Ford Everest. Massive discounts of up to Php150,000 plus over P1.2 million worth of cash prizes will be given away to customers who will reserve a vehicle during the 3-day event.
Aside from test drive activities, the Ford Island Conquest also serves as a platform where owners and interested buyers can learn more about and avail of Ford’s after-sales and service offerings such as Premium Extended Warranty and Scheduled Service Plan (SSP), as well as various vehicle accessories.
Creating a community of safe drivers in Davao
As part of its road safety advocacy, Ford Philippines also brought its United Nations-recognized safe driving program Driving Skills for Life (DSFL) for the second time to Davao City, reinforcing its commitment to educate drivers on the benefits of smart, safe, and fuel-efficient driving as well as the necessary driving skills to help minimize road accidents, altercations, and traffic congestion.
The DSFL in Davao was held at the Home Crest Hotel for the classroom training session and at the SM City Davao carpark for the driving simulation exercises last December 13, 2018 and was attended by over 200 private and PUV drivers, traffic enforcers, road safety advocates, and student drivers.
Now on its 11th year in the Philippines, the DSFL program is a combination of classroom training that includes modules on vehicle handling, driving in special conditions, anti-distracted driving, and fuel-efficient driving, as well as a hands-on driving simulation that allows participating drivers to apply their learnings from the classroom sessions. The DSFL program is offered to participating drivers for free.
In an effort to increase DSFL’s relevance to today’s driving environment, the program tightened its focus on training more public utility vehicle drivers (PUV) covering the likes of bus, jeepney, school bus, and taxi drivers to be safer and more responsible drivers.
Since 2008, DSFL has trained over 22,000 Filipino drivers nationwide in partnership with Tuason Racing School (TRS), the program’s long-time trainer and facilitator. In 2017, Ford reached close to 3,000 private and public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers nationwide as DSFL participants. For the first time since its launch, Ford conducted its DSFL program in key provinces such as Pampanga, Batangas, Cebu, Davao, as well as several educational institutions in Metro Manila. Ford also increased the number of hands-on driving sessions to ensure that participants are able to apply their learnings from the classroom sessions.
