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While Changan Ford's performance continues to decline, it plans to reverse the decline in China by accelerating product upgrades and launching more models. According to the plan, medium and large SUV explorers will be domestically produced by Changan Ford and listed in 2020.

Today, the latest batch of new car declaration information of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has been announced, and the Changan Ford Explorer model has been officially released. The new car will continue the overseas version of the sixth generation of explorers, offering a variety of front-face grille designs, powered by a 2.3T engine.

From the outside, the new car is consistent with the overseas version, using a new front face shape, the front grille presents a hexagonal, and connected with the headlight group. The side continues the burly shape of Fangzheng, which strengthens the hard style. From the declaration information, domestic explorers offer 8 kinds of front grille designs, including ordinary version, ST-Line version and ST version.

The taillight of the new car adopts the C shape of vertical design, and the model adopts the exposed exhaust of bilateral double layout. In the body size part, the length, width and height of the new car are 5075*2004/2020*1778mm and the wheelbase is 3025mm, which is larger than the size of SAIC-Volkswagen Tuang. The car is based on Ford's brand-new CD6 rear-drive platform, which is the product of the soon-to-be-made Lincoln flier.

In terms of configuration, the new car will vary in front grille style, front bumper, front camera, headlight group, front / rear bumper radar, side pedals, black roof, rim style, etc., depending on the version. In terms of power, the new car is equipped with a 2.3T turbocharged engine, model CAF488WQGR, with a maximum power of 276hp and is expected to match a 10-speed hand-mounted gearbox and a four-wheel drive system.

Ford explorers switch from imported to domestic, saving a series of costs such as import duties, and the price will be further reduced. The price range of 2018 models of imported explorers currently on sale is 41.28-591800 yuan. The future competitors of domestic explorers are SAIC-Volkswagen Tuang, Buick Anke Banner and so on.

According to sales data, Changan Ford sold 18802 vehicles in November, down 23 per cent from a year earlier, and its cumulative sales in the first 11 months reached 166078, down 53.9 per cent from a year earlier. Both monthly and full-year declines have narrowed, but Changan Ford still faces greater difficulties.

Ford's sales in China have fallen for three years in a row due to problems such as slow product updates. In 2019, Ford accelerated the progress of new product launches, reorganized its Chinese executive team and sought to restore its business in China. Ford launched new models this year, including the new Fox Active, the new Ruijie ST/ST-Line SUV, the new Taurus, the Ford F-150LTD pickup truck, and the pure electric SUV leader EV. Even so, Ford has yet to stop its sales from falling.

Changan Ford said it would launch at least 18 new models in the next three years. As for the new car, Changan Ford Escape will be sold in the same room with Wing Tiger, and the domestic Lincoln Corsair model will be put into production at the end of 2019, as well as the domestic Ford Explorer next year.

As sales continue to decline, Changan Ford will continue to lose money. Ford made a profit loss of $281 million (1.976 billion yuan) before interest and tax in China in the first three quarters of 2019, down 26 percent from a year earlier, according to the report. Ford said it expects its loss before interest and tax to be nearly halved in 2019 from a year earlier, and its loss before interest and tax in 2020 to be nearly half lower than in 2019, and its performance in China is likely to improve further in 2021.

Ford's search to stop the decline in sales and emerge from the quagmire of losses has become a core issue for the brand, and restoring performance in China still requires the launch of more marketable models. Ford's "big ups and downs" in China confirms the great changes in China's automobile market in recent years, as well as the current situation of intensified competition.

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