AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)05/16 Report--

Ford's sales in China have fallen sharply and its performance has lost money. In order to reverse the decline of the Chinese market, Ford plans to speed up the Lincoln brand's domestic projects and launch more locally produced models.

Ford officially announced the production of Lincoln models in China at the end of this year. Ford Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Bob Shanks (Bob Shanks) also said that all the problems the company encountered in China last year were related to the Ford brand, not the Lincoln brand. The Lincoln brand is Ford's only bright spot in the Chinese market. "Ford will start producing Lincoln Corsair SUV in China later this year. And will eventually produce all the new models in China except the navigator. "

The Corsair, which should be called a pirate ship in Chinese, will replace the current MKC, which is produced on the same platform as Ford's latest SUV Escape, and Changan Ford will also launch a domestic model of the Escape this year.

Ford also said that China's raw material costs are lower, labor costs are lower, and in terms of consumer demand, we can be closer to the market and avoid the impact of tariff fluctuations.

Ford lost $1.1 billion in the Asia-Pacific region in 2018, mainly in the Chinese market, as sales of Ford continued to decline in China. In the first quarter of this year, Ford sold 136000 new cars in China, down 35.8% from a year earlier, with a loss of $128 million (880 million yuan). Ford said that Lincoln's production of models in China and the realization of domestic production of the Ford Explorer SUV next year would greatly reverse the losses in the business in China.

In 2018, Lincoln's sales in China rose 2 per cent year-on-year to 55000 vehicles. According to the plan, Changan Lincoln will also launch a medium and large SUV next year, launching a domestic model every year for three consecutive years.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat