Demand is much higher than expected for the new T6 Ford Ranger pick-up truck in Cambodia, according to Rami Sharaf, CEO of RMA Cambodia.

“The demand is much higher than the supply but our customers are ready to wait,” Sharaf said. “The Cambodian customer realises the quality and is ready to pay the extra buck for the higher quality product,” he said.

In addition to Ford Motor Company, RMA Cambodia represents the American John Deere brand of agricultural equipment along with Dairy Queen and Swenson’s Ice Cream.

In November last year, Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford’s great-granddaughter Elena Ford visited Phnom Penh to attend the grand opening of the new Ford showroom on Monivong Boulevard.

“The fact that she came herself shows how much US companies believe in Cambodia,” Sharaf said.

Also last year, RMA Cambodia donated a new 2013 Ford Ranger to the Don Bosco Vocational Training Institute.

“We wanted to give them to most updated equipment so that the future mechanics could be trained in the latest technology,” Sharaf said. “So we gave them the most updated Ford Ranger worth $40,000.”

RMA Cambodia also drilled more than 20 drinking water wells in the Siem Reap area to provide easier drinking water access for local residents, and Sharaf says there are plans to drill an additional 20 wells this year.

“We did this because people had to walk a long way to reach a drinking water source.”

Sharaf said new John Deere tractors had been ordered to supply large-scale agricultural projects in Cambodia.

“The Prime Minister’s ambition of exporting one million metric tons of milled rice by 2015, as well as other crops like rubber, corn and cassava, we feel there is a big movement in the agricultural sector and many more investors coming to the Kingdom,” Sharaf said.

“This 175-year-old American brand, John Deere, is now a market leader in Cambodia,” Sharaf said. “John Deere makes not only tractors, but also harvesters for sugar cane, corn and in the near future rice harvesters. These are the most sophisticated harvesters available.”

Sharaf said a John Deere pilot project in Cambodia had collected feedback from Cambodian rice farmers last year.

“When this John Deere equipment is ready to be commercially launched next year, it will take into consideration the Cambodian farmers’ physical needs.”

On June 19 this year, Ford Motor Company celebrated 110 years in business.

Sharaf also praised US Ambassador William Todd for his efforts to attract American investment to Cambodia by leading trade missions in the region and around the world.

“We feel the level of enthusiasm he has to encourage more American brands to come to Cambodia,” Sharaf said.