Changan Ford Adds 100 Dealers to Gamble on Second and Third-tier Cities

In just three months, Ford Motor Co. Ltd. has been making heavy fists in China. Yesterday, Changan Ford announced that it will add 100 dealerships in China in 2010, which will increase by 41% in 2009. In the past two months, Ford invested 3.4 billion yuan in Chongqing to build an engine factory with an annual output of 400,000 units, and replaced the top leaders of Ford China and Changan Ford Mazda joint venture.

Changan Ford Motor Co., Ltd. announced its plan to expand network outlets in Nanning, Guangxi Province on the same day. On the same day, 40 new parents, Anfu Ford, including Nanning, Harbin, and Wanzhou, Chongqing, opened their businesses on the same day. Before the end of this year, Changan Ford will still have 24 new distributors. The total number of new Changan Ford dealers this year has reached 100, an increase of up to 41%. In 2009, Changan Ford brand had 240 distributors in China. By the end of this year, the number of Changan Ford dealers will reach 340.

After the bankruptcy of General Motors in 2009, Ford became the largest automotive company in the United States. At the same time, Ford Motors has implemented a strategy of rapid expansion through the adverse impact of the financial crisis on its competitors. In the first 10 months of this year, Ford sold 959,800 vehicles in Europe, ranking fifth in sales. The United States sold 154,300 units, a year-on-year increase of 20.81%.

Only in China, the world’s largest emerging market, Ford’s performance is poor compared to companies with global positions such as GM and Volkswagen. In the first 10 months of this year, Ford Motor China sold 468,800 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 39%. During the same period, the number of Volkswagen was 1.65 million, an increase of 38.4% year-on-year. GM’s sales in China in the first 10 months reached 1.98 million units.

At the same time, Europe, North America and other traditional automotive consumer countries have not been restored due to the financial crisis. This makes Ford Motors must seize the world's largest emerging market - China.

“These western and developing cities will be the main source of future auto market growth.” Han Ruiqi, chairman and chief executive of Ford China, said that most of the new dealers are located in the rapidly growing western and northern cities of China. Including Fuyang, Shijiazhuang, Harbin, Chongqing Wanzhou, Anyang and so on.

In September of this year, Ford Motor announced that it will invest RMB 3.34 billion in China to build a new Changan Ford Mazda automotive plant. After the completion of the project, Changan Ford Mazda's production capacity will reach 600,000. In addition, the new engine plant of Changan Ford Mazda will also start construction in 2011. After completion, the total output of Changan Ford Mazda will increase from 350,000 units to 750,000 units.

In addition to the preparation of production and sales outlets, Ford plans to introduce more models in China to meet the overall growth of business scale. He Junjie, general manager of Changan Ford Mazda Sales Co., said that Changan Ford will launch four new models in the next three years, one of which may be an SUV.