AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)05/07 Report--

Ford has removed dozens of foreign executives from its China operations and vacated positions to be replaced by local managers, speeding up the localization of senior executives in China to reverse the decline in sales in the world's largest car market, according to the Financial Times. Earlier, Ford China shouted the slogan "more Ford, more China".

In fact, after suffering a Waterloo in China, Ford began to pay more attention to localization and set up a new business leadership team in China.

At the beginning of Chen Anning's appointment as president and CEO of Ford China, Chen Anning was fully in charge of Ford's China business, and successively recruited two Bowo executives, including Huo Jing, former director of Bowo's marketing department, and Yang Song, former president of Bowo Automotive Group, to join Ford China as vice president of public relations and president of Ford's national sales and service organization.

About 30 foreign executives have been assigned to other Ford divisions so far this year, with vacant positions replaced by local managers in China, the Financial Times reported.

Chen Anning once said: "We need to understand what is the most suitable for the Chinese market managers, this is the principle of our leadership team."

According to Ford's plan, the Chinese market and the North American market will become Ford's core market, and China will be fully upgraded to an independent business unit, reporting directly to the company's global headquarters.

At the "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.

The decline in sales is an indisputable fact. Zhao Fei, executive vice president of Changan Ford, said frankly, "We did not step on the rhythm of the timing of the Chinese market in the last round, and there was probably no new product launch for a long time." In the market competition in which the product is the king, everything revolves around the product.

In terms of sales volume, Ford sold 7.52243 billion vehicles in China in 2018, down 36.9% from 2017; sales in China in the first quarter of this year were 136000, down 35.8% from the same period last year. Among them, Changan Ford's sales in the first quarter of this year were only 36800, down 71.79% from the same period last year.

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