AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/22 Report--

On April 22, Ford China announced two senior personnel appointments. Mr. Liu Yuehai was appointed Vice President of Ford China Product Innovation. In addition, Mr. Liu Zongxin rejoined Ford China as Vice President of Marketing and sales for Ford Motor Greater China.

Liu Rihai worked for Taiwan Ford Liuhe Motor Co., Ltd., joined GM in 2000, became GM's vice president of marketing in Asia-Pacific in 2008, became the executive director of planning, development and marketing of Shanghai GM in 2011, and joined Changan Ford in 2015 as vice president in charge of marketing, sales and service. Liu Rihai, vice president of product innovation in China, is a new position created by Ford.

In addition, Liu Zongxin, who worked at Ford for 27 years, returned to Ford, after serving as head of marketing and sales at Dongfeng Nissan from 2015 to 2018. This time, Liu Zongxin joined Ford China again as Vice President of Marketing and sales of Ford Motor in Greater China, where he was responsible for leading the market, brand and sales management of the Ford brand in the whole Greater China region.

In terms of sales, Ford sold 7.52243 billion vehicles in China in 2018, down 36.9% from 2017. Of these, Changan Ford's sales fell by as much as 50% to 417000 in 2018, while Changan Ford's cumulative sales in the first quarter of this year were only 36800, down 71.79% from 130451 in the same period last year.

After years of "decadence" in China, Ford has long been far away from the mainstream joint venture car companies, and some time ago there was news that Ford China had begun a large number of layoffs. Earlier, the New York Times reported that Ford's joint venture in China, Changan Ford, had begun to lay off thousands of employees, mainly because of the rapid decline in Ford's sales in the Chinese market. According to the news, Changan Ford's production capacity at three large assembly plants in Chongqing is largely idle. At present, the production capacity is less than 1% of the total production capacity, and production has also changed from three shifts to single shifts.

After Ford went to the trough in China, it began to pay more attention to localization. Before Liu Zongxin and Liu Rihai, Yang Song joined Ford's China leadership team and was approved by Changan Ford's board of directors. He became president of the national sales and service organization. Earlier, Bowo Marketing Director Huo Jing also joined Ford China as Ford's vice president of public relations in China. In addition, after leaving Chery, Chen Anning, CEO of Chery, became president and CEO of Ford Motor China, where he was in charge of Ford's China business.

At the previous "Ford China 2.0" conference on April 3, Ford China put forward the slogan of "more Ford, more China" and announced a number of plans to revive the Chinese market, including the launch of more than 30 new models of Ford and Lincoln brands specially built for Chinese consumers in the next three years. The first new car on the market is a medium-sized SUV Ford Escape specially designed for Chinese consumers. Increase investment in products in China, set up China Innovation Center, China Design Center, and New Energy Center; Ford China management to inject more local management personnel to speed up decision-making efficiency.

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