Ford is recalling more than 191,000 Focuses in China due to a fuel line leak that could lead to a fire.
Despite being late to the sales party in China, Ford has been making up for lost time, especially this year as the company – led by the Focus – is expected to sell more than 1 million vehicles.
The automaker, which earlier this year claimed the Focus was the best-selling nameplate in the world, saw its August sales rise 9% with the Focus being the catalyst for that.
However, the good times may have come to a screeching halt today – one day after it announced its strong sales last month – with the news it is recalling more than 190,000 Ford Focus sedans built from 2009 until now due to fuel leak problems.
Following up on customer complaints, Chinese safety regulators discovered that fuel lines in the vehicles may crack, leak fuel, possibly leading to a fire.
The problem is not new to Changan Ford, which launched a customer satisfaction program with its dealers in China covering 161,170 Focus vehicles in January 2012 because of the same problem.
“We are now extending this to being a safety recall in order to ensure we cover off all vehicles and alleviate any potential customer concern relating to this issue,” Clare Li, Ford China spokesperson, told Bloomberg News.
The company sold 77,506 units in August, and overall Ford China’s sales are up 30% through the first seven months of 2014. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said the Focus was the best-selling car in China through the first seven months of 2014.
The Focus is a springboard to the maker’s plans to introduce 15 new models in China by 2015. Those additions include the subcompact Escort and the original pony car, the Ford Mustang.
(Foreign automakers feeling under the gun in China. For more, Click Here.)
The investigation and subsequent recall comes on the heels of recent revelations that non-Chinese automakers feel like the market is becoming more difficult to operate in despite public government proclamations claiming a new openness for foreign automakers.
(Click Here for details about the latest in auto safety technology coming to Detroit.)
A full 60% of those who responded to a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in China said they feel “less welcome” in China. By comparison, only 41% responded that way a year ago.
(To see more on the new Lexus RC coupe, Click Here.)
Nearly half of the 365 respondents complained they are being targeted for “selective and subjective enforcement” by Chinese regulators, with a growing sense that the country’s bureaucracy is being used as a shield to help protect local manufacturers who might otherwise fail in the face of foreign competition.