Ford’s Sales in China Declined 26.1% Last Year

Sales of Ford Motor Co.'s models in China decline for the third year in a row by 26.1%, less than half of what the car giant sold in 2016, and they could get even worse in 2020, said the company.

Its manufacturing numbers are down as well as the company produced 146,473 vehicles in China in the fourth quarter, which is 14.7% less than in the same time period last year. 

The company sold a total of 567,854 vehicles in 2019.

Ford’s business in China started declining in late 2017, and the company has been trying to recover since then. Sales plunged 37% in 2018, following a 6% drop in 2019.

While 2019 was certainly a “challenging” year for the company, the market share in the high-to-premium segment has consolidated and its sales in the value segment started to recover in the second half of the year, said President and CEO of Ford China, Anning Chen.

Ford has recently announced its plan to roll out over 30 new models in China over the next three years, out of which 10 will be electric vehicles. The US carmaker also stated it plans to hire more Chinese staff, for the purpose of consolidating relationships with joint venture partners.

Among models that were launched in the fourth quarter, the new Ford Escape performed better than any other model in terms of received orders, while the Lincoln Corsair is the first localized Lincoln car in China.

The car market in China is expected to decline by 2% in 2020, for the third year in a row, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) predictions.