Ford Motor Company · Automobile
Ford Pro: Upfitting Vehicle Configuration
One centralized place to buy, price, and upfit a commercial vehicle
- Persona groups interviewed
- 4
- Core upfitting capabilities
- 3
- Regions phased: NA, then EU
- 2
Goal of the project
Ford Pro is a Ford service where dealerships, upfitters, and customers buy and maintain commercial vehicles in one place. We designed its build-and-price experience to raise customer satisfaction and keep buyers with the brand.
Geography
Horizon 1 tests the solution in North America. Horizon 2 brings a refined version to the EU. Later stages of the roadmap extend similar upfit configurations to Oceania and South Asia, each with its own personas.
Key activities conducted
- Benchmarking and market research: how competitors handle automotive e-commerce today.
- Customer journey mapping: a full journey for each feature.
- Database design: Creating data entry points based on the proposed user experience.
- High-level wireframes: a picture of the product vision that business stakeholders could react to.
Who we spoke to
| Persona | Role & day-to-day | Pain points |
|---|---|---|
| Store manager Works for a local dealership | Fleet management, contacting local drivers, managing used vehicles, updating vehicle data, contacting local upfitters, and looking for deals on upfits. | Wants a system that connects existing fleet data with local upfitters; wants an e-commerce-style site to track upfit orders, status, and delivery; wants ease of finding vehicle upfits. |
| Store owner Owns and runs a store providing services and repairs | Sends repairmen to work on tasks, manages vehicles and equipment for houses and landscaping. | Does not want to spend a lot of time looking through upfit options; when buying a new vehicle, would rather get one that already has the necessary upfits ready; doesn’t care about brand loyalty of parts. |
| Regional store/fleet manager Works for a privately owned regional chain service company | Manages a fleet of vehicles, contacts parts stores and vendors for additional equipment; service technicians and drivers contact them for mechanical issues. | Struggling with high price markups from upfitting companies; even wanting just one part means paying for an entire package deal; wants the flexibility to upfit their own vehicle and visualize how it will look. |
| Drivers, service technicians, delivery personnel Works under a franchise or local store | Reports to the store manager, updates work orders and tasks, uses heavy equipment and machinery installed on the vehicle. | Wants to look up the cheapest options for upfitting parts in their area; wants an option to create custom invoices and share them with their managers. |
The "aha" moment
Users needed three things: search for upfits on their own, search for vehicles that already have upfits, and upfit a vehicle they already own. We built the solution around those three paths.
Solution flow
The full solution flow: three parallel paths (buy to upfit, buy already upfitted, upfit my own vehicle) converging on a single cart and checkout.
Customer journey mapping
Journey maps highlighting the touchpoints of each persona, built from the flow above and tied to each interviewed user type.
Prototype creation
A low-fidelity, high-level prototype reflecting the MVP vision: vehicle upfitting, telematics, engine configuration, and build-and-price.
Open to senior and staff roles
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