Ford in China (2): plans to enhance vehicle and engine production capacity

Ford to increase vehicle production capacity to 1.2 million units by 2015

2011/11/28

Summary


 Ford is building a new Chongqing plant which will start operation in 2012. In addition, Ford will build Jiangling Motors’(a company that it has a stake) new Xiaolan plant in Nanchang and a new passenger car plant in either Tianjin or Chongqing (potential sites). With these new plants, Ford will enhance its production of Ford brand vehicles. Ford will establish annual production capabilities on the scale of 600K units by the end of 2012 and double it up to 1.2 million units after 2015.

 Ford will also increase its engine production capacity by enhancing its Nanchang engine plant and building a new engine plant in Chongqing which is scheduled to start operation in 2013. Its annual production capacity is expected to reach a scale of 1.0 million units by the end of 2011, a little below 1.5 million units after 2013, and around 1.9 million units (including some of those for Mazda) in the long-term.
 In addition, Ford is building its first Chinese joint venture transmission factory in Chongqing.

 The following is on Ford's latest movements in connection with its production structure expansion of vehicles and engines in China.
 For Ford’s latest mid-term business plan, development and sales structures, and model plans, please see "Ford in China (1): mid-term business/model plans, and development/sales structures" that was issued in November 2011.

  Remark：On November 21, 2011, Ford has announced the Powertrain Strategy of the Changan Ford Automobile, its Chinese joint venture company.   For details, please refer to related news article.



Ford’s business plan in China

Outlines
Production

・Ford will develop Changan Ford Automobile (a joint production base in Chongqing) which will be the major production base next to its Detroit base.
・Ford will raise Jiangling Motors (a joint production base in Nanchang) to the world's leading commercial vehicle base. The joint company will also strengthen the production of Ford brand passenger cars.
・Ford will establish a joint venture company with Changan Automobile Group in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, to enter into medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicle business in China.
  ・Ford will invest 1.6 billion USD to build a total of four plants, three plants for finished vehicles, engines and transmission in Chongqing, and a finished vehicle plant in Nanchang. These plants will start running by 2013 (as of the end of September 2011, the construction of all plants have already started).
Sales ・From 2015 to 2020, Ford aims for an annual sales of 1.5 million units (including sales of imported products and export of China-made vehicles), and a market share of 8% (3% as of September 2011).
・Ford will expand sales in various parts of China (except large cities) by 2015.
  (The 2010 sales in markets of the western part of China were up by 59% over the previous year.)
・Ford will strengthen its tie with Changan Automobile Group in global business such as jointly developing overseas markets.
Model ・Based on the concepts of quality, green, energy saving, safety, and smart, Ford will strengthen its product lineups of China-made vehicles (in other words, penetrate into each segment more than before) to expand its share in the Chinese market.
・Ford will introduce a total of 15 new models over four years from 2012 to 2015 (of which about ten models will be produced at the Chongqing plant).
・Ford will enter into the Chinese high-end vehicle market with its Lincoln brand models (before local production, it will start the import and sales of these models soon).
・Ford will accelerate its launch of low-end model vehicles.
Environmental responsiveness:
・HV/PHV/EV models developed by Ford will be proactively introduced into the Chinese market.
・By 2020, Ford will improve emission gas levels of all its models, and reduce CO2 emission by 30% from the May 2010 level.
  ・Ford will expend its installation of high efficiency powertrains such as the combination of a new type direct-injection turbo engine (EcoBoost GTDi) and the PowerShift transmission (DCT).     *See the Note.
・Ford started test run of three environmental responsive models (Transit Connect [EV], Escape PHV, and Fusion HV) in several cities of China in April 2011.
・Ford plans to produce electric passenger cars (HV ,PHV, and EV) at the Changan Ford Automobile. The production will be expanded to a certain scale by 2020.

Source: Press release of Ford Motor (China), other various media reports
 Note: Some reports say that, in 2013, Ford will mount the EcoBoost GTDi engine on nearly 80-90% of all models globally sold, including China.



This report is for paid members only. Remaining 2 chapters remaining.
Free membership registration allows you to read the rest of the article for a limited time.

Click here for a free trial.