Ford’s China vehicle sales drop 26 per cent
SHANGHAI - Ford Motor Co’s China vehicle sales fell for a third consecutive year, by 26.1 per cent, as it battles a prolonged overall sales decline in its secondbiggest market that has hit demand for its massmarket Ford brand and sports utility vehicles.
The US automaker delivered 146,473 vehicles in China in the fourth quarter, down 14.7 per cent year-on-year, Ford said in a statement.
In total, it sold 567,854 vehicles over 2019.
Ford has been trying to revive sales in China after its business began slumping in late 2017. Sales sank 37 per cent in 2018, after a 6 per cent decline in 2017.
Anning Chen, president and chief executive of Ford Greater China, said that while 2019 was a “challenging” year for the automaker, it saw its market share in the high-to-premium segment stabilise and its sales decline in the value segment start to narrow in the secondhalf of the year.
“The pressure from the external environment and downward trend of the industry volume will continue in 2020, and we will put more efforts into strengthening our product lineup with more customer-centric products and customer experiences to mitigate the external pressure and improve dealers’ profitability.”
The automaker plans to launch more than 30 new models in China over the next three years of which over a third will be electric vehicles.
It has also said it would localise management teams by hiring more Chinese staff and aimed to improve relationships with joint venture partners.