Ford: sales in China grow against the trend under the epidemic and focus on developing the Chinese Market in the Future

Ford's determination to re-launch the Chinese market is becoming more and more obvious.

In previous years, China's auto market as a whole entered a period of steady development after rapid growth, and many mainstream car companies inevitably experienced ups and downs in sales, as the pace of launching new cars slowed. Ford's sales volatility in the Chinese market seems to be even greater. The change took place in 2019, with the official release of Ford's China 2.0 plan, Ford launched a transformation plan in the Chinese market covering five major areas: products, design, innovation, technology and talent. The effect was also immediate. In 2020, against the backdrop of a decline in the overall car market affected by the epidemic, Ford's sales in China rose against the trend, with a total of 602627 vehicles sold, an increase of 6.1 per cent over the same period last year. This is also the first time that Ford has achieved positive sales growth in the domestic market for the first time since 2017.

Photo: Ford Motor official website

"more Ford, more China" is a new slogan shouted by Ford in China in the past two years, and the implementation is a significant increase in the weight of the Chinese market in Ford's global layout. On April 28, Ford China announced a new adjustment to its business operation and management model in China, which will set up the passenger and commercial vehicle division of the Ford brand, and reorganize the senior management team in China.

Lyle Watters, the current president of Ford Motor South America and international markets, became the general manager of Ford passenger cars in China and reported to Chen Anning, president and CEO of Ford China, that the appointment came into effect on July 1st. Wang Wentao, president of Jiangling Motor, will become general manager of Ford's China commercial vehicle division and also report to Chen Anning that the appointment will take effect on May 1.

In addition, he Xiaoqing, former vice president of Ford's China Enterprise Alliance, succeeded Shen Dingwen (Steven Armstrong) as president of Changan Ford, while Shen Dingwen became Ford's transformation officer in South America and India. Xiong Chunying, former executive vice president of Jiangling Motor, joined Ford China and served as president of Jiangling Motor.

With the arrival of new personnel appointments and organizational restructuring, the context of Ford's business in China has become clearer. With the addition of commercial vehicles, which attach equal importance to passenger vehicles, coupled with the Lincoln brand that focuses on the luxury car market and the future-oriented electric vehicle business, Ford's four major business sections in China will form a multi-level and full-dimensional layout in the future, from passenger vehicles to commercial vehicles, from fuel vehicles to new energy vehicles, and from Volkswagen brands to luxury brands.

Ford product family, photo source: Ford Motor website

When Ford is mentioned in the domestic market, the first thing you will think of is Changan Ford, while Jiangling Motors, another major joint venture in China, has relatively limited attention.

In fact, Jiangling Motor began to brew the transition to the passenger car field since 2006, and put forward the strategy of "commercial and passenger". In 2010, Jiangling launched the first SUV model, Yusheng S350, and then launched Yusheng S330. As Ford's passenger car business has begun to tilt towards Jiangling in recent years, Jiangling Ford has formed a passenger car product matrix based on the three Ford SUV models of wealth, road shakers and leaders. More importantly, at the end of last year, Jiangling set up a passenger car sales branch and created an independent passenger car channel, which can be said to be a milestone in the development of passenger car business.

In other words, Ford's passenger car business in China has also opened a new mode of walking on two legs, and it is different from the product strategy of other foreign car companies habitually putting the same model into two joint ventures at the same time. Ford's launch of passenger car products in China will allocate different models according to the different positioning of Changan Ford and Jiangling, so that the two joint ventures can really form a joint force and fundamentally avoid "sibling estrangement".

In addition, this adjustment of Ford's business and senior team in China has another major benefit for Jiangling Motor. With the improvement of Ford's commercial vehicle business status in China, Jiangling Motor, which ploughs deeply into the domestic commercial vehicle market, is obviously the biggest beneficiary. It can be seen from two personnel appointments. Wang Wentao, former president of Jiangling Automobile Co., Ltd., served as the first general manager of the commercial vehicle division. Xiong Chunying, executive vice president of Jiangling Motor, was promoted to join Ford China and served as president of Jiangling Motor. The latest core appointments in the commercial vehicle sector revolve around Jiangling, which is self-evident.

"with the establishment of Ford China passenger vehicle Division and Ford China Commercial vehicle Division, Lincoln China has further accelerated the promotion of localization and the upgrading of customer experience, as well as the electric vehicle business launched at full speed. Ford China's business layout is more focused on its own advantages and high growth potential business areas," said Chen Anning, president and CEO of Ford China. In its view, the promise of becoming more Ford and more China is to really subvert itself. only in this way can Ford really form a new industry competitiveness at home and re-create Ford's leading edge in the Chinese market.

A few days ago, Ford released its financial results for the first quarter, and the results were quite good. Worldwide, Ford delivered 1.062 million new cars in the first three months of 2021, with revenue rising 6% to $36.2 billion from $34.3 billion in the same period last year, and net profit of $3.3 billion, Ford's highest profit since 2011. In China, the Lincoln brand delivered its best first-quarter sales performance, while Ford's high-end SUV and commercial vehicles also saw good growth, with light trucks, vans, buses and pickups accounting for 48 per cent of the company's sales in China.

Ford has obviously revived in the Chinese market, and the next thing we can look forward to is whether Ford can still reach the original market height in China.