Ford breaks ground for new joint-venture assembly plant in Hangzhou, the company’s first plant in east China.
Ford China posted its highest ever August sales, with 48,631 units sold, up 39% from last year. Year to date, Ford China has sold 368,513 vehicles, up 8% from January – August 2011. Market leader General Motors sold in 220,996 units in August and 1,837,546 year-to-date. Number Two Volkswagen Group sold 1.74 million units ytd (1.48 million or +17.9% year over year) in China.
Sales of Ford-brand passenger cars were also at a record high for August, up 65% with 33,640 units sold, which includes a small number of Edge imports. Sales of Ford-brand passenger cars at Changan Ford Mazda Automobile (CFMA), Ford’s passenger car joint venture partner in China, reached 33,017 wholesale units in August, up 63% from August 2011.
Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC), Ford’s commercial vehicle investment in China, sold 14,991 wholesale units in August, flat compared to the same period last year.
Last week Ford broke ground for two new assembly plants, one in Chongqing and one in Hangzhou. The two plants will double Ford’s production capacity in China to 1.2 million passenger cars annually by 2015 and bring Ford’s total investment in China to US $4.9 billion.
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About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
