Ford brand sales in China rose 46% last year to 82,225 vehicles, and the US carmaker reportedly forecast further growth in the year ahead.
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That growth beat the local car industry, whose sales expanded about 14% last year, The Associated Press said, citing data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Sales of Ford vehicles and those of affiliated brands in China totaled more than 220,000 units, Ford Motor China chairman and chief executive Mei Wei Cheng reportedly said in a statement, though no year on year comparisons were provided.
AP said the best-selling brands were Lincoln, Land Rover, Volvo and Jaguar, while the Volvo S40 and XC 90 and the Jaguar XJC8L and XJ6L were best-selling luxury models.
“For Ford Motor Company in China, 2005 represented a record year of sales increases,” Cheng said in the statement cited by the news agency. “We’re quite confident that Ford Motor Company as a whole will again see a significant growth in total sales volume in China in 2006.”
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By GlobalDataThe Associated Press noted that Cheng didn’t give a specific target for sales growth this year and that Ford still lags far behind General Motors and Volkwagen in China.
AP added that GM said on 4 January that its China sales in 2005 rose 35.2% to a record 665,390 vehicles, showing it had surpassed VW, which reported it had sold 570,876 vehicles in China last year without providing a year on year change.
New products, an expanded dealer network, and support from Ford’s vehicle finance arm in China will help maintain the company’s strong sales growth, Cheng reportedly said.
Ford has been expanding its manufacturing facilities and launching new products with a more than US$1 billion investment in China, the statement said, according to AP.
By the end of 2005, the number of Ford dealers in China was 150, up from 100 a year earlier, the company reportedly said.
Changan Ford Automobile, Ford Motor’s and Changan Automotive Group’s 50-50 flagship joint venture, registered record sales of 61,013 units last year, up 41% from 2004, the statement added.
It reportedly aims to expand the production capacity at Changan Ford to approximately 360,000 units by the first half of 2007.
On the commercial vehicle front, sales of the Ford Transit series produced by Jiangling Motors, in which Ford owns a 30% stake, rose 48% from a year earlier to 18,000 units last year, The Associated Press said, noting that pushed total sales at Jiangling Motor to over 70,000 units in 2005, the best year ever for the Shenzhen-listed company.
