Pretoria – There are few working people more strapped for cash than university graduates with brand-new degrees, starting their first real job while burdened with huge student loans, and usually stuck with using the old banger that (just) survived their student years as their only transport.
But Ford SA has recognised that these same graduates will, within the foreseeable future, be professionals looking to buy upmarket vehicles and, if the car in which they started their working lives wore a blue oval badge, there’s a good chance they’ll go back there for an expensive new car.
So it has launched a new programme that gives eligible graduates - basically anybody with a recognised tertiary qualification - a five percent discount on the price of a new Ford, plus a slightly lower interest rate than they’d usually qualify for with their credit profile.
“We know how important education is to the economic and social fabric of the country,” said Ford Credit SA managing director Steve Fraser, “and we know students have to overcome many obstacles and financial pressures to earn their degrees. “So we’re rewarding the hard work and dedication required to obtain a university degree by helping graduates to get started in their professional careers.”