Ford CEO Alan Mulally sees China a key target for the maker which got off to a late start in the market.
A latecomer to the massive and growing Chinese automotive market, Ford China is reporting its best-ever January, selling more than double the number of passenger cars it did in January 2012.
In all Ford sold 44,439 passenger cars—including imported vehicles—last month, a 135% increase year-over-year, and achieved combined passenger car and commercial vehicle sales of 61,475 wholesale vehicles, a 98% increase from January 2012 that helped Ford pick up market share.
“We’re ending the year of the dragon with pride in having served more customers in China than ever before,” said John Lawler, Chairman and CEO of Ford China. The annual Lunar New Year celebration is now underway across China.
Ford has been rapidly adding more new product and increasing production capacity hoping to gain some ground on key rivals General Motors and Volkswagen, which have dominated Chinese sales charts as it surged from an insignificant player to become the world’s single-largest national automotive market.
“As we start the Lunar New Year with great momentum, we are excited to begin offering two new SUVs tailor-made for this market,” said Lawler. “This is all part of our aggressive expansion to bring 15 new vehicles to China by 2015, and double retail and production capacity in the world’s largest automotive market.”
Sales of the latest-generation Ford Focus—the first of 15 new products Ford will bring to China by 2015—continued to drive strong performance in January with 33,632 sold wholesale, more than three times the 9,748 sold in January 2012.
Independent industry data show the Ford Focus was China’s best-selling nameplate in 2012. Last year Focus sales reached 296,360 vehicles, more than any other domestically manufactured passenger car, according to industry consultancy IHS Automotive.
Ford’s passenger car joint venture Changan Ford Automobile (CAF) saw sales surge in January, with 43,269 wholesales sold in January, more than double the 18,324 sold last year.
Ford’s commercial vehicle investment in China Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC) sold 17,128 wholesale vehicles compared to 12,045 last year, a significant rise of 42 percent despite a contracting commercial vehicle sector.
Ford launched the all-new Kuga—an exciting new SUV and the second of 15 cars Ford is bringing to China by 2015—on January 22. With the Edge, Kuga and the soon-to-be launched EcoSport and Explorer, Ford is bringing to China a full family of SUV’s, the country’s fastest-growing segment.
General Motors also reported record sales for January.
Meanwhile, Japan’s “Big Three” carmakers, Toyota, Honda and Nissan, also all reported double-digit growth in sales during January.
Sales at Toyota Motor Corp and its Chinese joint ventures rose 23.5% in January compared with a year earlier. It was the first sales increase reported by the world’s largest carmakers since the outbreak of anti-Japanese protests last summer. Triggered by a dispute over a chain of uninhabited islands, it led to a sharp drop in sales among all Japanese carmakers.
“The results are higher than a year ago as the Spring Festival fell in January last year,” Toyota said.
Many shops, including car dealers, close during the week-long holiday which comes in February this year. Toyota said it and its Chinese partners sold 72,500 cars in the country in January. Toyota’s China sales had fallen 15.9% in December and it marked the first sign of growth since June last year.
Both Nissan and Honda also reported a 22% increase in sales during January.
Nissan Motor Co., which is the Japanese company with the largest market share in China, has reported a 35% plunge in October-Decembers profit as global sales languished. The plunge in Chinese demand was particularly troubling for the maker.
(Click Here for more on Nissan’s profit slide.)
Overall, China’s passenger-vehicle sales surged 49%, to a monthly record, in January, beating analysts’ estimates, as demand for SUVs almost doubled.
However, holiday distortion means that sales may decline in February. Economists and analysts typically calculate January and February figures together to explain the Chinese market and account for the impact of the Lunar New Year holiday.
China’s economy grew 7.9% from a year earlier during the last three months of 2012, the first acceleration in two years and the pace of the expansion is expected to increase in the first quarter for the first time since 2011.